MedicX Pharmacy announces new Hepatitis B service

03.06.11

Rotherham’s easy access pharmacy launches unique service

MedicX Pharmacy located in Rotherham Community Health Centre, launched an innovative Hepatitis B pilot service on the 1 June 2011. 

Hepatitis B is a very serious blood borne disease, which despite affecting only around 2% of the population UK-wide it is however particularly prevalent within certain high-risk groups, such as intravenous drug users.  MedicX Pharmacy has worked closely with the local Drug & Alcohol Commission to develop this service, which will be available free to two specific client groups (needle exchange clients and those clients on the supervised consumption of substitutes programme). 

Hepatitis B is a preventable illness and this new service will provide an accelerated vaccination programme for qualifying clients, with three separate injections being given on day 0, day 7 and day 21. 

Gavin Birchall, Operations Director, MedicX Pharmacy, comments:

“This is a unique pilot service which has not been nationally commissioned and is being brought specifically to Rotherham where we have indentified a local need for vaccination against Hepatitis B within specific high-risk groups. The very nature of the chaotic lifestyles that some client groups can lead means that an accelerated vaccination programme over just three weeks is the best way of providing them with protection. 

The Rotherham MedicX Pharmacy team is passionate about pharmacy and patient service levels. As a national team we are constantly striving to deliver new and improved facilities to best meet the needs of each of the communities in which we operate.”   

For the convenience of patients, the MedicX Pharmacy hours in Rotherham mirror the opening hours of the Walk-in Centre and the GP out of hours service.  The pharmacy is open until 10pm every day, 365 days a year and is dedicated to enhancing the patient experience, offering three private consultation rooms, a patient information area including a touch screen health-point displaying local health information and a large LCD TV screen showing the Life Channel, a dedicated healthcare channel. 

Services provided include medicine use reviews, smoking cessation services, a minor ailments scheme and diagnostic screening services such as blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol testing.

To find out more about the services available at MedicX Pharmacy please call the pharmacy team today on 01709 464464 or email rotherham@medicxpharmacy.com.