Lindsay and Gilmour carried out lifestyle checks at Community Pharmacy Scotland in connection with the Healthy Working Lives initiative

Katja Yersz of Lindsay and Gilmour Pharmacy is seen above carrying out a health check on Dolores Dangel of Community Pharmacy Scotland. Lifestyle advice based on the results of tests carried out using a Cardiopod machine was offered to several members of CPS staff by Katja and Robbie McGregor.

Harry McQuillan (CEO of CPS ) said:

“These lifestyle checks are less intimidating for the staff to receive health care advice, rather than going to their GP. Since starting the Healthy Working Lives initiative our staff absence has improved and our attention to healthy eating has improved.”

For more information, click here.

Lindsay & Gilmour will be sponsoring two courses this year, which will be free to participants. They are primarily aimed at people with CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or ME). The courses consist of ten 3 hour group-based sessions with trained facilitators. They are designed to help people achieve control over their situation and practice effective self management strategies which can help them return to a fuller and more active life. Lindsay & Gilmour Pharmacists and staff will help to provide information on the courses and to refer people to it. An important aspect of the courses is that they can help people suffering from fatigue for a whole variety of causes and a diagnosis of CFS ( ME ) is not a pre-requisite to be able to benefit from them

Nigel Cumming, Chairman of Lindsay and Gilmour is keen to support this programme and to see it made much more widely available. As an CFS. sufferer himself he knows how hard it is to struggle with the debilitating effects of chronic fatigue and how little support and guidance most patients receive. “It is bad enough effectively loosing part of your life at my age – but for children and teenagers it is a time they never get back. It was only the sheer good luck of a friend putting me in touch with the Thistle Foundation which set me on the road to recovery – this service should be available, to all sufferers ”

For further information visit your local Lindsay & Gilmour Pharmacy or contact the Thistle Foundation direct (0131) 661 3366 e-mail rgrieve@thistle.org.uk

Further Information

The Thistle Foundation

Originally a charity providing residential services to physically disabled people, over recent years the Thistle has been developing a wider range of work supporting people with a broad range of disabilities and conditions to lead healthier and more fulfilling lives. They have found that many of the techniques that help disabled people cope with challenging circumstances, can also help people with chronic illnesses and with debilitating levels of fatigue. Since 2001 they have delivered 18 Lifestyle Management Programmes to around 180 people, but they need additional funding and resources to make the programmes more widely available. “It changed my life. I had given up hope until I was referred to it” (course participant) – “The course covers all the things to do with wellbeing. You have to change you lifestyle to fit them in. It makes looking after yourself your job and making that a priority” (participant).

For more information visit www.thistle.org.uk

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS – ME)

The medical profession now tends to talk about CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) but the term ME is probably more familiar to the general public.

There are no examination findings which can confirm the diagnosis of CFS. The predominant symptom of ME/CFS is usually severe fatigue and malaise following mental or physical activity. The illness nearly always results in a severe reduction in a person’s ability to cope with all aspects of normal daily living. Currently it is estimated that some 250,000 people in Britain are affected by this illness. Commonly, a previously fit and active person finds their illness triggered by an infection, but not always. Other illnesses can produce similar symptoms so it is important that patients have a thorough health check. Many people suffer post viral fatigue following illness and this is often only classified as “chronic” after six months. However failure to manage activity levels and lifestyle appropriately at an early stage can make symptoms more severe and may delay recovery.

Even after years and in some cases decades of disability, taking simple steps to manage the illness can help patients to return to active and rewarding lives.: pacing yourself and interspersing rest and activity; learning relaxation techniques and how to sleep better; improving stamina and gradually building up to regular exercise.

For more information visit www.meassociation.org.uk

left to right: and Norman Jess Superintendent Pharmacist, Liz MacKenzie, Dispenser( Leith Walk branch), Nigel Cumming, Chairman of Lindsay & Gilmour, with Linsay Graham course facilitator and, Ross Grieve course organizer for The Thistle Foundation

As a result of this document the new Pharmacy contract was developed. This involves four core services, namely the Minor Ailment Service, the Public Health Service, the Acute Medication Service and the Chronic Medication Service.

1. Minor Ailment Service

For minor ailments, instead of having to make an appointment to see your GP, you can visit your pharmacist for advice, and treatment. After listening to the details of the illness, if the Pharmacist believes that a medication is needed, they may be able to prescribe it for you without you having to pay or having to visit your GP to obtain a prescription.

This services was introduced in June 2006. It is an NHS service offered by every Community Pharmacy in Scotland to patients who are exempt from paying prescription charges and who are registered with a GP in Scotland. For further information on the Minor Ailment Service, please contact your local branch.

2. Public Health Service

As part of this service Pharmacies provide information on public health issues and take part in national campaigns to encourage healthy lifestyles.

3. Acute Medication Service

This service is due to be introduced in the Autumn of 2008. As at present if you have a doctor’s prescription you will be able to go to the Pharmacy of your choice and have it dispensed and get any advice you may need. Under the new scheme, to assist in better record keeping and communication between health professionals, the prescription will be bar coded and the details will be entered on a computer by your doctor and scanned in and checked against your records, by your pharmacist when it is dispensed.

4. Chronic Medication Service

When this service is introduced, if you have a chronic illness for which you receive medication, you may register with a convenient Pharmacy. Depending on the type of medication you are prescribed by your GP – the Pharmacist, with the agreement of your GP, will be authorised to manage your prescriptions for up to 12 months.

This will mean that your Pharmacist can monitor or adjust your medicines without the need for you to visit your GP as frequently. Pharmacies are being equipped with consultation areas where you will be able to receive advice and talk to your pharmacist with greater privacy.

Over 730 visitors walked through the doors of 19 Smith’s Place, Leith to soak up the atmosphere of a bygone era. Nine members of the Leith local history society spent the day bringing the special commissioned exhibition to life with their expert knowledge on original artefacts telling the story of this piece of working life in Leith over the last two centuries.

Many of the original artefacts and documents were hidden away in underground cellars and dusty cupboards, some dating back to the early 1870s – handwritten letters, detailed business correspondence and a collection of glass bottles and chemist drawers, all with their original Latin inscriptions.

On the day 101 year old Dr Gordon B Drummond – the oldest registered pharmacist in Britain – travelled from Hull to attend the event. Pouring over the exhibition, he recollected having to run errands to Smith’s Place as an apprentice, and explained how to use the pill rolling machine. Many of the visitors had a vested interest in the pharmacy as a local joiner explained how the curved doors in the ground floor atrium were made, having curved one himself as an apprentice. One ex employee reminisced about her experience of meeting a Stevenson-esque ghost in the building, who she met leaning on the balustrade in breeches and a cut-away coat!

Smith’s Place, originally the home to Raimes, Clark and Co, a Wholesale and Analytical Chemists founded in 1816 has benefited from a number of careful owners who have respectfully preserved the Georgian interior and its many original artefacts and features. In the company boardroom, visitors came face to face with portraits of founding members who started the original firm of Raimes, Clark and Co in 1816 and upstairs in the attic visitors could step back in time and imagine how the generations of servants would have lived.

Lindsay and Gilmour chairman, Nigel Cumming, whose family have been involved with the firm for over 100 years, said he was very pleased to be able to share this rich heritage with the local community.

Rory Vareker, who designed the window display for Lindsay & Gilmour, with the results of his handiwork. Picture: GREG MACVEAN

The Lindsay & Gilmour Pharmacy in Edinburgh’s Elm Row recently unearthed a hoard of items of historical interest in its basement and decided to take them on tour to branches as far away as Selkirk and Hawick.

Charles Darwin, who studied medicine in the Capital, was one of the early customers of the shop.

Following the tour, the items have now come home to Edinburgh and will be given pride of place in the shop window.

The colourful display features items from the early days until the 1950s, including original pharmacists’ drawers, medicine bottles, product labels and prescription books.

Two specially designed and illustrated storyboards outline the history of the business.

Nigel Cumming, Lindsay & Gilmour chairman, said: “People enjoy coming to see how things used to be in times gone by, and some of our older customers may also see things that they remember from their youth. One thing that we noticed while these items were on tour was that they were a great trigger for reminiscences of the past.

“The Elm Row branch is the original Lindsay & Gilmour Pharmacy, from which the rest of the group takes its name. It was established in 1826, which makes it one of the oldest pharmacies in Scotland.

“We know from the label on an old medicine bottle that Charles Darwin was one of the early customers. That bottle is now in the Darwin Museum.

“We also used to hold the royal warrant for King George V, and some of the labels we’ve unearthed bear the slogan Chemist to His Majesty the King.

The parent company, Raimes Clark, dates all the way back to 1816.

The two founders of the company, John and Richard Raimes, originally set up their business in the Edinburgh High Street as Commission Agents, supplying apothecaries and druggists. For many years the company’s main business was wholesaling.

The main premises, which incorporate an Adam-style Georgian Townhouse, will be open to the public for Doors Open Day 2008 on September 29.

This year, Raimes Clark celebrates its 100th year as a Limited Company and the exhibitions have been commissioned to mark the event.

It is also the 60th anniversary of the NHS, and the company is co-operating in a number of exhibitions to mark this event.

Preserved in the archive is a range of business correspondence, as well as early product catalogues, minutes books, diaries and ledgers from the 19th century.

These include a document concerning Patrick Anderson’s famous True Scots Pills. The pills, which were invented in the 17th century, were a popular remedy for more than 300 years.

Cholera, gout and rheumatism were all on the list of ailments that the medicine was claimed to cure.

The document, which dates from 1649, declares the sole right of the bearer to manufacture the “True” Scots Pills, and as such is one of the earliest known patents.

It is accompanied by advertising leaflets and a box of the pills themselves.