Open | Humpty Dumpty display a winner in national competition to highlight expertise pharmacists have to offer

Unichem Fenwicks Pharmacy in Kaiapoi had it cracked when it came to winning the South Island section of a national competition judged by Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne.

The competition asked for pharmacy displays to encourage customers to ask questions to make full use of pharmacists’ expertise about medicines.

It was part of Let’s PLAN for better care pharmacy week, during the Open for better care national patient safety campaign’s six-month focus on reducing harm from high-risk medicines.

Fenwicks Pharmacy’s display was based on the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme – with one egg perched unbroken on top of a wall (accompanied by the caption ‘He Planned’) and another cracked in two at the bottom (‘He Didn’t’).

Co-owner Robert Fenwick says staff went back to their primary school days of papier mâché wrapped around a balloon in order to make the eggs.

‘With the Humpty Dumpty concept,’ he adds, ‘when you’re talking to customers it’s actually quite funny, because you can say, “And this is not a yolk”, “Are you all white?”’

Mr Dunne praised the standard of entries in the competition.

‘The Fenwicks Pharmacy display offered the winning combination of not only a clever idea based on the PLAN name but one that was very well executed too,’ he says.

‘I can’t imagine many customers walking past this display without it raising a smile while at the same time drawing their attention to the role pharmacists can play in ensuring they use their medicines safely.’

Let’s PLAN pharmacy week was an extension of the Health Quality & Safety Commission’s Let’s PLAN for better care health literacy resources – which are built around an A4 sheet that helps patients get the most out of their health care appointments, and suggests questions to ask their pharmacist.

Copies of the sheet were available for customers to take away from pharmacies across the country as part of the week.

Mr Fenwick says his customers liked the sheet.

‘There were people we spoke to who had had the situation where you go to the doctor, get mesmerised by the whole situation and forget what you’re supposed to ask. So having it written down is a good thing to follow. That’s very common to a lot of people, I think.’

He welcomes customers being encouraged to ask questions, saying: ‘We’re always here to talk to for any problem.’

The Open campaign is led by the Health Quality & Safety Commission.