Welsh pharmacies offer Parkinson’s MURs in awareness campaign

Patients with Parkinson’s disease in Wales will be offered medicines use reviews (MURs) at their local pharmacy throughout June as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the disease and the support available to them, their families and carers.

During the month-long campaign, ‘Parkinson’s Medication — Talk to Your Pharmacy Team’, which began on Monday 1 June, patients are being encouraged to undergo an MUR to better understand their medicines and how to make the most of them to control their symptoms.

Bilingual posters and information leaflets displayed in the nation’s 714 pharmacies call on patients to speak to their pharmacist about their medication and what support is available locally. Pharmacists are being offered special training in the condition by the Welsh Centre for Pharmacy Professional Education (WCPPE) at Cardiff University.

Mair Davies, chair of Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) Wales, which supports the campaign, says: “I encourage patients in Wales with Parkinson’s to take this opportunity to visit their pharmacist over the next month. It is vital that people with Parkinson’s take their medicines at the right time, every time. We hope this campaign will help get this message across. Pharmacists will listen and talk to people who have Parkinson’s about their medicines and support them with any medicines-related issues.”

The campaign forms part of the Welsh Government’s neurological conditions delivery plan. It has been organised by the nation’s seven health boards, Public Health Wales, Community Pharmacy Wales and Parkinson’s UK Wales, and is supported by WCPPE and RPS Wales. Welsh Assembly members plan to visit pharmacies in support of the campaign.

Around 8,000 people in Wales have a diagnosis of Parkinson’s, according to Parkinson’s UK Wales.