It was 20 Years Ago Today – Pharmacy goes Beatle mania!

It was 20 years ago today that Medical Specialists® came to be. Not quite the phrase from the Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album that was released in 1967, but one that shows that like the Beatles, Medical Specialists® are here to stay. Medical Specialists Company Limited is the owner of the well known Medical Specialists® Pharmacy, based in Bury, Greater Manchester, which is the first ‘One Stop Online Pharmacy and Doctors’ that deals with mainly sexual health medication.

Medical Specialists® have come a long way since the first early days of the internet, from being originally clinics, to becoming one of the leading online pharmacies in Europe. “Being a massive Beatles fan, as soon as I realised that we were 20 years old, that famous phrase (It was 20 years ago today!) took hold of me and made me realise how some of the fab four’s songs could be related to many of the treatments we offer. For instance, we offer treatments for erectile dysfunction and immediately I thought of ‘A Hard Days Night’ and ‘Any Time At All’ and even ‘8 days A Week’.
 We also offer a range of treatments for premature ejaculation, and so the songs ‘I’ll Keep You Satisfied’ and ‘Come Together’ sprung to mind”, said Managing Director David Bailey.

Since the early internet days, they have steadily increased their range of medication available via online consultation or private prescription, and now include a range of treatments for Acne (‘It’s Getting Better All The Time’ said David), to treatments for STI’s (‘I Feel Fine’ said David).

“Treatments for obesity are now very popular, as people don’t want to ‘Carry the Weight’ and usually respond better with ‘A Little Help from My Friends’. I could go on and on with many of the Beatles songs relating to treatments we offer such as asthma and allergies, stomach and  bowel, alcohol dependence (new medication), migraine, and holiday and travel medications (malaria), and many other conditions that are embarrassing” said David.

Recent additions to their ever-increasing repertoire of treatments include Selincro for alcohol dependency and Vitaros cream for erectile dysfunction. Selincro works to reduce the urge to drink so that hopefully people will never again have to wake up following the night-before and think ‘I’m a Loser’ or ‘I Should Have Known Better’! “This new medication is in large demand especially from women who obviously realise they are now drinking too much on a regular basis” said David.
Vitaros cream is a topical treatment for erectile dysfunction, ideal for those who just cannot, or struggle, to take oral tablets for whatever reason. However, these people do not need to live in ‘Misery’ anymore with the introduction of this fantastic cream that can help men with male impotence that cannot take other treatments or find them ineffective.

In fact, Medical Specialists® are always at the forefront of providing the latest medication to ‘Help!’ satisfy the thousands of requests they receive from new and existing patients. With The Department of Health recently issuing an information leaflet called “Guidance on the use of emergency salbutamol inhalers in schools”, this led to Medical Specialists® being inundated with requests from schools wanting asthma inhalers and spacer masks for their first aid kits. The schools may have previously been confused as to what to do (‘If I Needed Someone’), but many certainly know where to go now – the number one pharmacy choice for thousands across the country.

Like the Beatles, Medical Specialists® have constantly evolved and improved, and now offer their service to NHS patients via ‘Electronic Prescription’ or ‘EPS2’ which is the new way that Doctors send their prescriptions electronically to the required pharmacy (a ‘Revolution’ said David). You can nominate Medical Specialists® Pharmacy as your pharmacy by going to their web site
(www.medical-specialists.co.uk) and clicking on the ‘NHS Prescriptions’ tab to find out more.

And finally, when asked when he would retire, David said with a smile…‘When I’m 64!’

Health professionals from around the country to meet in Manchester next week

On Thursday 28 June, Manchester will play host to the fourth annual LinkGov Health & Care Conference. This will see a whole host of Health and Care Senior Leaders, Board Directors, and many more healthcare professionals and volunteers from all across the country, meeting to discuss how best to move forward and constantly improve healthcare for patients, against regulations and strict financial restraints laid out by a coalition government who are seemingly always looking to cut expenditure on things such as health and education in an attempt to reduce the countries massive debt.
The conference will begin at 10am, finishing with a 4pm discussion from keynote speaker Jim Easton, the Director of Improvement and Transformation, who’s topics of debate will include ‘Strengthening links between better use of information and greater efficiency and improvements in care’ and also ‘Supporting patient choice and helping people make decisions about their care’.

Easton’s speech will probably touch upon the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS), and how better to efficiently manage this. This service enables prescribers to electronically send a patients prescription to a nominated pharmacy of the patients choice. There are obviously major benefits to this revolutionary and efficient process, such as the patient not having to worry about misplacing the paper prescription, pharmacies such as Medical Specialists Pharmacy can take care of your repeat prescriptions and monitor when they are due – saving you the trip to your GP practice each time you need to collect your repeat prescription. As of 18 June, there are 181 general practices and 4,928 pharmacy sites are now ready to start using EPS Release 2, including Medical Specialists Pharmacy, who are listed on the NHS choices page, so clearly the service has become huge and in the future it will probably be responsible for how the majority of medications are dispensed to patients.

As we reported last month, the  government are currently planning some of the most radical health reforms ever seen and everybody will soon be able to even browse around online to compare doctors and the success rates of particular operations in their local hospitals. The 2012 LinkGov Health & Care Conference will aim to study how these changes effect patients, what kind of financial restrictions will be present, and how future strategies and technologies can provide more safer, cost-effective and efficient service for patient’s needs.

A main part of the afternoon in Manchester will be the meetings will be focused on ‘The QIPP Challenge’ (Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention), and the awards given out for them.  The QIPP is a national Department of Health strategy that involves all NHS staff, patients, clinicians and the voluntary sector. The strategies main aim is to make a £20bn efficiency saving by 2014/15 which will all be reinvested back into the NHS. The awards aim to recognise the efforts of health and social care staff and those who have helped to innovate or improve working practices, reduce costs, improve patient care, and many other things. Some of the recipients of a QIPP Challenge Award include the NHS North of England North West for their ‘Energise for Excellence in Care Program’ and the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s ‘Commissioning Leader’ scheme.