Pharmacy funding cuts - is homeopathy the answer?

Pharmacy funding cuts are starting to dig deep, and many pharmacies face closure if new, profitable revenue streams, are not found quickly.

2017 and beyond will be testing times for the community pharmacy sector, so every opportunity to keep these foundations of the local high-street alive must be sought.

IS EVERY OPPORTUNITY A WISE CHOICE FOR THE REPUTATION OF PHARMACY?

The NHS is choosing to stop paying for homeopathic medications.  A long overdue action.  Leave homeopathy to the health food industry.  Pharmacy is not into faith healing.

In The Chemist & Druggist, a renowned pharmacy publication, a recent article has sparked many comments from the pharmacy profession as to whether "Homeopathy could be pharmacy's saviour from funding cuts". 

Comments made by pharmacists and those closely connected to the pharmacy sector were not very complimentary to the idea of capitalizing on the sale of homeopathic remedies:

·         Great. Let's do a proper return to the 17th century and bring back purging and bloodletting as well.

·         David, why are you suggesting this rubbish. The future of the profession, if it has one, is not in quack remedies with no scientific basis.

These are strong replies so what is the issue with homeopathy?

What is homeopathy?

The British Homeopathic Association describes homeopathy in this definition:

“Homeopathy is a natural form of medicine used by over 200 million people worldwide to treat both acute and chronic conditions. It is based on the principle of ‘like cures like’. In other words, a substance taken in small amounts will cure the same symptoms it causes if taken in large amounts.”

For those involved in the homeopathic industry, worth over £46 million according to a Mintel report on Complimentary medicines 2007, homeopathy works. The belief and faith in homeopathy can be very strong in those wishing to use it, but for pharmacy medicine is not a religion.

Pharmacy works with facts and strong evidence. The Healthy Living Pharmacy status pharmacies are working towards within the new pharmacy contract, will strengthen this notion.

Conventional medicine, using evidence based science rather than anecdotal claims, views homeopathy as nothing more than a placebo, yet surprisingly  has been available through the NHS for many years. The time has now come, with the NHS running out of money, to cut back on many peripheral and worthless services, with homeopathy being one such cut for many Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). If homeopathy is no longer prescribed on the NHS, the over the counter market for such "treatments" will be opened further. Could this be pharmacy's best opportunity to plug the pharmacy funding cuts?  Should it be?

Plugging the pharmacy funding cuts - the right way.

It is not surprising for pharmacists to refuse to accept this opportunity with homeopathy.  A complimentary therapy, with little clinical evidence, is not a treatment option. Real medical problems must be treated by real medicines.   

Pharmacists are very highly trained experts in medicines and to fall en-mass into recommending non-evidence based therapies, purely for financial gain, violates the pharmacy code of ethics. Luckily for the pharmacy profession most pharmacists will refuse this option as seen in the loud responses to the article. Fraudulent medical therapies could put pharmacists at serious risk, when proper treatment options are not provided and lead to more serious medical conditions.

One answer has been staring pharmacy in the face for over 15 years....

Flu vaccines? Recently the pharmacy sector has turned towards flu-jabs as a means to stay profitable with a recent article in "The Pharmacist" magazine titled "Fantastic flu vaccine effort by community pharmacy" waxing lyrical about the 817,000 flu vaccinations achieved by pharmacies in 2016/17 season. 

This, however, equates to a paltry £30 profit per pharmacy per month on average.

Pharmacy needs to look further than just turnover and service uptake. 

Profits now matter a great deal too. Flu-jabs are not the saviour of pharmacy after all.

So who could be a saviour of pharmacy?

Lipotrim

Lipotrim is an evidence based weight management programme offered exclusively  by healthcare professionals, including nearly 2000 pharmacies, across the UK and Ireland. The wealth of evidential  data,  produced from audits, has demonstrated the value of Lipotrim, not only to the patients treated successfully, with significant weight losses and reduced medication needs, but also for the pharmacies with highly profitable remuneration.

This white paper, "Treating obesity and excess weight using a holistic, Pharmacy based approach to weight management", from Waistaway shows what a single pharmacist has achieved. With weight losses in this one study averaging above 11%, even for type 2 diabetics.

Lipotrim is replicating this achievement in pharmacy across the UK and Ireland. 

Weight management is hot topic with the National Diabetes Prevention Programme being rolled out in the UK and a similar programme in Ireland. It is time for more pharmacies to realise they are in the perfect location, and that it is a perfect time to really utilise their expertise in medicine and general health, tackling the obesity and diabetes crisis head-on.

Contact Lipotrim now to request information on how to join Lipotrim as a patient or a pharmacy

on 0800 413 735 (UK)

on 00353 (0) 1525 5636 (ROI)

or email lipotrim@lipotrim.co.uk

Lifestyle change - cut your type 2 diabetes risk with Lipotrim

The official dogma is that lifestyle change is required if we are to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes in the UK population. A sedentary lifestyle leading to excess weight, increases the risk of many of the long term health conditions that type 2 diabetes brings.

Quoting the Meerkats “Simples”

If Only!

Type 2 diabetes is a terrible illness and should be taken very seriously indeed. The effect of living with type 2 diabetes is profound. This debilitating "lifestyle disease" causes many health issues, ranging from problems with your eyes and feet, erectile dysfunction and thrush, to heart problems and possible lower limb amputation. At the time of diagnosing type 2 diabetes, the individual may have already placed their body under pressure for many years.   Less well known, however is that type 2 diabetes is usually preventable and often reversible.

Once diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, the individual will likely be prescribed increasing amounts of medication, over time, to help the struggling body regulate the blood glucose levels. Eventual reliance on injecting insulin or using newer, more powerful drugs persists until the body finally gives up.

Type 2 diabetes levels in the UK are increasing and show no sign of slowing. With around 3 million type 2 diabetics in the UK, and over half a million people thought to be type 2 diabetic yet undiagnosed, controlling excess weight should therefore be top of everyone's list.

 

Type 2 diabetes - what is being done?

This article on the BBC News channel describes type 2 diabetes, the effects it has on the body, and what a Doctor recommended for one patient. The NHS is currently rolling out the National Diabetes Prevention Programme and so it is important to look at what the lifestyle changes proposed by health professionals could do:

The lifestyle changes that can cut type 2 diabetes risk

By Dr Rangan Chatterjee

Doctor in the House

The recommendations made to this patient were based around 4 lifestyle changes: food, movement, stress and sleep.

Food

It is very good to see food at the top of the list. Consumption of food and drink is the first, and most important, lifestyle change to be made if you are trying to prevent or treat type 2 diabetes.

Food, or really the contribution excess food makes to an individual's weight, causes the emergence of insulin resistance. It is insulin resistance, and the body's subsequent lack of ability to adequately regulate blood glucose levels, that inevitably leads to a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes and the inevitable downward health spiral.

Tackling excess weight is the lifestyle change that truly matters to type 2 diabetics.

Lowering weight from obese levels away from a BMI >35 and ideally into a healthy range (BMI 20 to <25) has a massive impact on the treatment and reduction of type 2 diabetes. Susceptibility to type 2 diabetes is increased at much lower rates, but becomes more and more probable as BMI increases.  Some populations, such as south Asians become susceptible even at weights considered normal for white Europeans.

The food advice given to type 2 diabetics is often as is described by the Doctor:

I advised her to eliminate refined carbohydrates in her diet such as sugary breakfast cereals, white rice and bread.I encouraged her to increase her intake of healthy, natural fats such as avocados, nuts, and olives as well as healthy protein sources such as salmon and anchovies.

The food lifestyle changes described are important for nutritional health and will likely have a small benefit to her circulating glucose levels. It is highly important that any excess weight is lost to truly gain blood glucose control and so this advice must also promote a reduced intake of calories below that required each day. It is quite possible these lifestyle changes may even lead to a worsening of blood glucose control and diabetes, if body weight increases as a result of an increased, albeit "healthier calorie" intake.

Movement

It is evident that for an individual to be type 2 diabetic, they are highly likely to be carrying excess weight (as discussed above). Eating less and moving more is the mantra for losing weight and making a positive lifestyle change.

What if the diabetic is confined to a wheelchair? What if the excess weight is such that exercise is painful, even dangerous?

The Doctor advised his patient to stop her intense gym sessions and replace them with yoga and the result was that:

At the end of her yoga session, La-Vern not only felt as though she had worked out but also felt rejuvenated and energised. Plus, it was the only "switch off" time she had all week.

Some Questions

This raises an important question. What is the role of exercise? Is it adequate to just "feel" like you are exercising or should we all be following the exercise guidelines of approximately 30 mins moderate exercise 5 days a week? For extremely overweight people, 30 minutes moderate exercise could mean just getting dressed each morning. Is this an acceptable method of exercise?

The effect exercise alone has on diabetes is likely to be small since excess weight itself can lead to difficulty for meaningful activity. For an overweight individual to gain the most from exercise, we must initially tackle the excess weight. Effective and significant weight loss opens the door to more meaningful and potentially less painful, increased activity levels.

Stress and Sleep

The blue light emitted from smart phones and their use late at night can have an effect on sleep pattern. The knock-on effect can be increased susceptibility for putting on excess weight and stress. 

It is important to reduce the amount of "screen-time" before bed and to keep to good sleep routine, with reduced caffeine and alcohol levels especially in the evenings.

We must not ignore the effect sleep apnoea has on sleep deprivation and stress levels. Weight loss can often be the most effective treatment method to reduce Obstructive Sleep Apnoea symptoms and is possibly even curative.

Lipotrim has an answer.

The prevention or treatment of type 2 diabetes often revolves around making small lifestyle changes that need to be maintained for a long period of time. By looking at these recommendations we have seen that these small changes may have an effect, but it is the necessity to reduce the excess body weight that in turn reduces the insulin resistance that will have the strongest effect. The diabetes needs to be stopped quickly. The longer it takes the more difficult it may be to stop.

Losing weight is not easy. It is easy to say, but decades of history prove that despite the massive attempts at weight control, the battle is being lost. Calorie restriction and increased exercise takes too much time, produces scant results and so will have little effect on weight. Type 2 diabetes will not be effectively contained.

Lipotrim however uses nutrient complete formula foods for weight loss.  Taking care of the advice given above to make healthier food and lifestyle changes will assist with weight maintenance after the loss. The very low calorie nature of Lipotrim leads to rapid weight loss at the maximum safe rate. 

A significant reduction in weight often allows for increased exercise levels, reduced sleep disturbance and stress levels and, if you are already type 2 diabetic, reversal or prevention of type 2 diabetes if you are at risk.

If you would like to learn more about taking a major step towards a better and healthier life change contact Lipotrim today:

Lipotrim UK      0800 413 735            
Lipotrim ROI     00353 (0) 1525 5636

To find your nearest Lipotrim pharmacy click on either UK or ROI