Mr Wallace met staff and was shown around by Pharmacy Manager Jacinta Edgar. He also offered his support to the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Wear it -Beat it Campaign on 6th February by taking part in a bike-a-thon in conjunction with students from the Myerscough College.
Did you know that one in four of our loved ones are lost to heart and circulatory disease each year? It kills more women than men and is responsible for almost 160,000 deaths in the UK each year, an average of 440 people each day. There are currently 7 million people in the UK living with heart and circulatory disease.
The BHF asked the great British public to Wear it-Beat it and host a red-themed event in support of the fight for every heartbeat.
Mr Wallace said, “A huge thank you to Jacinta Edgar and her team at Kepple Lane Pharmacy and the students from Myerscough for their red-themed fundraising efforts. It has been fantastic to witness the local community rallying together in the fight against heart and circulatory disease. I enjoyed the visit and it highlighted to me some of the vital services delivered by the pharmacy.”
Mr Wallace is pictured with Raymond Lee from Lancashire Pharmaceutical Committee.
All money raised from Wear it-Beat it will help the British Heart Foundation make a massive difference to the millions of people living with these conditions.
Mr Wallace also signed up to the Community Pharmacy Manifesto. The manifesto calls for politicians to sign up to five key pledges:
1. Encourage patients to think ‘pharmacy first’, and use pharmacy to help relieve pressure on GPs and emergency departments
2. Improve patient choice and healthcare by making it easier to commission pharmacy services and backing more national services
3. Help improve the public’s health, recognising the accessibility and support community pharmacy can provide
4. Enable patients, especially those with long term conditions, to get more from their medicines through better use of community pharmacy
5. Help pharmacies to get access to the records, information and support they need to provide more effective and safer care to patients