Pharmacies must target men

Pharmacy services are a particularly under utilised service for men, the Forum has told the Department of Health in its response to the consultation paper A vision for pharmacy in the new NHS. It argues the government should market pharmacies to men, to persuade them to use the service more.

The Forum believes that pharmacy services should be developed as a source of advice, information and self-treatment for men. Men under-use pharmacies even though they are potentially the kind of service men are more likely to use because they are anonymous and relatively easily accessible. Part of the problem is that most pharmacies do not allocate space for confidential consultations and their product displays often give the impression that they are a service primarily for women.

In the submission the Forum says: 'We support the Chief Pharmaecutical Officer's 10 Key Roles for Pharmacy (outlined in A vision for pharmacy). We share the view that pharmacy services are currently an under-utilised resource for the population as a whole. We believe pharmacy services are a particularly under-utlilised service for men. It is disappointing, therefore, that A vision for pharmacy (VP) does not mention the development of services in relation to improving men's health. Although VP quite rightly proposes that pharmacies play a role in tackling health inequalities, gender-related health inequalities are not mentioned in VP. This is despite the DH's commitment to tackle these health inequalities.'

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