On Friday 11 November 2022 the 5th Year Pharmacy students from the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, UCLan arranged a Pharmacy Open Day.

The NFHW was very happy to support the UCLan event to acknowledge services given by Ann Urmston, Senior Lecturer, School of Pharmacy, UCLan.

During the event, NFHW was very proud to award Ann Urmston the NFHW Fellowship in recognition of her contribution and support over many years during Health Melas.

The Fellowship award was presented to Ann Urmston by Guest of Honour – Graham Baldwin, Vice Chancellor of UCLan.

The Vice Chancellor praised the working partnership between NFHW and UCLan and said he was proud to be part of the partnership. The Vice Chancellor was also very pleased to see so many staff and students involved in the preparation of the event. He said that it had been a very successful day and thanked the staff and students for all their hard work.

In her reply, Ann said

“I am honoured to receive a fellowship award from the National Forum of Health and Wellbeing.

I have had the pleasure of being part of an amazing team offering free health checks for many years and have made some very dear friends.

Having a group of healthcare professionals who give up their Saturdays to travel to local communities is amazing! They give back to the community and if we can improve just one person’s quality of life it is worth giving up our time. 

As part of the school of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Central Lancashire, I have always had the schools support and our wonderful students also join me on these events to give back to the community.

I look forward to being part of the future events.”

Ann also expressed gratitude towards NFHW for encouraging and supporting students of UCLan to get involved with community activities and be part of the objectives of NFHW in helping communities taking responsibilities managing their own health.

NFHW Chair Professor Romesh Gupta OBE said

“I am delighted that UCLan had supported the NFHW for last few years and am very proud of the partnership with UCLan. I am pleased to see so many health assessments completed by the students at this Pharmacy event. I would like to reiterated that NFHW would always encourage students, staff and UCLan to be part of the NFHW partnership. We look forward to the future with many more Health events and the  on-going partnership with UCLAN.”

During this ‘Open Day’ the 5th Year Pharmacy students from the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences offered free drop in general health check. The health checks included height, weight, body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure. The students and senior staff from the Pharmacy Department also offered general health advice following the health checks. The Students were fully supported by qualified staff from the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences.

The event was very valuable as it provided students contact with local community, improve communication skills and understand the value of meeting the general public and discussing the health checks and general health advice.

Besides providing general health advice they also had the opportunity to signpost to other medical services and health professionals. This is very important as it shows how partnerships are working and it also encourages the public to understand other service that are available in their own area.

The Final year Pharmacy student are at the beginning of their Pharmacy career. The event at UCLAN was valuable as it emphasises knowledge and support services available to the students at UCLAN. This is the first stage of their career where they are then able to use their knowledge to improve services in the community and also encourage the general public the value of using Pharmacy Services.

Besides Professor Romesh Gupta, also present at the event, amongst others, were Sarifa Kabir, Martin Myers and Robert Campbell (Trustees of NFHW), Russell Hogarth, Community engagement officer (NFHW) and UCLan Ambassador, Dr Pratibha Gupta and Dr H Singh.