Safe Pharmacy: An Initiative To Increase Access To Domestic Abuse Services Via Community Pharmacy

• By: KELLY, Daragh (Irish Pharmacy Union, Ireland)
• Co-author(s): Mr Daragh Connolly (Irish Pharmacy Union, Dublin 14, Ireland)
  Joyce Mulpeter (Irish Pharmacy Union, Dublin 14, Ireland)
  Tara Kelly (Irish Pharmacy Union, Dublin 14, Ireland)
  Dr Susan O’Dwyer (Irish Pharmacy Union, Dublin 14, Ireland)
  
• Abstract:

  Background information
  One in four women in Ireland who have been in a relationship have been abused by a current or former partner1. National strategy2 aims to ensure that victims/survivors of domestic violence have immediate access to the safety, support and advocacy they need.
  
  Purpose
  The Safe Pharmacy Initiative aimed to help those experiencing domestic abuse and coercive control to access information, contact details and a safe, private space in their local community pharmacy to contact specialist support services in their locality.
  
  Method
  The Safe Pharmacy Initiative was developed as follows:
  
  

• Creation of a strategic collaboration between the Irish Pharmacy Union (Irish representative body for community pharmacy), An Garda Síochána (the Irish police service), the Health Service Executive (HSE) and Safe Ireland (an Irish government funded charity committed to creating safety for women and children);
  
  
• Collaboration between the four national stakeholder groups on a shared vision and common goal;
  
  
• Development of a pathway for access to local supports through community pharmacy;
  
  
• Training of key staff through online webinars, information leaflets and articles published in a national pharmacy journal;
  
  
• Design of an easy to recognise logo that could be placed in the pharmacy window to identify the pharmacy as a Safe Pharmacy; and
  
  
• Implementation of public awareness campaign which included press briefings, creation of a promotional video, development of a public facing webpage, radio and press interviews.
  
  Results
  
  
• 57% of all community pharmacies across the 26 counties of Ireland signed up to the initiative;
  
  
• All who signed up to the initiative registered as a Safe Pharmacy and nominated a Safe Pharmacy Champion;
  
  
• The Safe Pharmacy materials (poster/logo) were displayed in the pharmacy windows;
  
  
• Articles published in the national pharmacy journal were circulated to readership of 16,000 including community pharmacists and their teams, Senior Department of Health and HSE stakeholders, regulatory bodies, politicians and health journalists; and
  
  
• The public awareness campaign received a high volume of traction across traditional news media as well as across all key social media platforms:
  
• 47 mentions in news articles
  
• 17 mentions on radio channels
  
• 78,257 Twitter views, 1,064 likes, 479 retweets, 35 comments
  
• 30,523 Facebook views, 135 likes, 235 shares, 20 comments
  
• 25,200 Instagram views, 277 likes, 4 comments
  
  
  Conclusions
  Safe Pharmacy has increased visibility of domestic abuse and coercive control in communities throughout Ireland. The requirement of participating pharmacies to register, appoint a champion and complete training created a standard. The governance structure facilitated inclusion of all pharmacies, domestic violence services and Garda stations throughout the country. This ensured transparency, accountability, responsiveness and participation. The simple model facilitated replication in communities nationwide. Future work will focus on further upskilling of community pharmacy staff through implementation of an expanded, accredited training programme.
  
  References
  
  1.Women’s Aid. National and International Statistics: Domestic Violence and Abuse in Ireland. Accessed via https://www.womensaid.ie/about/policy/natintstats.html on 28/02/2023
  2.Government of Ireland, Department of Justice (2022). Zero Tolerance: Third National Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence 2022-2026. Accessed via https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/a43a9-third-national-strategy-on-domestic-sexual-and-gender-based-violence/ on 28/02/2023