As part of our ongoing commitment to our staff and their health, and in response to the ongoing pandemic, we recently commissioned the health team from Pillbox Chemists Group & Health-Clinic, a longstanding client of PDT, to deliver an onsite health check to all our staff. This experience has highlighted the value of investing in our staff's health and the importance of the services that pharmacies provide.
We initiated the 'health checks', which included a flu jab, covid-19 antibody test, blood pressure, heart rhythm trace and a full body composition scan, as we wanted to do something practical (in terms offering up flu jabs), but also give a brief opportunity for everyone to have a physical MOT. It is incredible that we spend less on our physical "MOTS" than we do on servicing our cars or our boiler and heating systems at home. Looking after ourselves is really important at any time, but now it is even more important and pressing. Priya Sharma, Pharmacist and Erina Wright, registered nurse from Pillbox Chemists Group spent a few days in our Covid secure onsite 'clinic' delivering the 30 min private appointments. Professional, friendly and caring, the feedback I received from staff was fantastic. The experience sparked important conversations focusing on everyone's overall health and wellbeing and really helped generate a sense of togetherness in what is a health challenged time. One of the key commitments as a firm is that we look after each other. Now, more than ever, is the time to do this as we go into a winter with continued uncertainty in terms of Covid and how our business, and businesses generally, will cope with/deal with it. Whilst the first lockdown will help us cope with the second lockdown, the sense of relentless 'wear down' can become gruelling. So, what shall we do about this? The need to ensure we are resilient has never been more important. One way of being more resilient is to know what it is that we are dealing with in terms of the issue or thing that is causing us anxiety. This is why, from the beginning of the pandemic, we have sought to share information and details with everyone about how the firm is doing and to get everyone included with our 12.30 calls and all of the "things" that have come from these. But I think we can do more. The need now more than ever is to look at how we can help each other so that we can put measures in place to allow us to move forward. The devotion, care and effort that people have put into the firm dealing with the pandemic since March has been phenomenal. As we go into this next phase, which I fear will be relentless, full of uncertainty and involve more restrictions and lockdown, I think that we need to start to talk about how we can help each other cope with some of the things that are going to be thrown at us over the coming months. What was nice in the health check was the feedback from Priya and Erina that the supportive and welcoming culture of PDT was tangible and present in all their sessions, which is fantastic reassurance that we have a healthy firm culture and that we are doing the right things to create the best environment for our staff and all who come into contact with PDT. Thank you to Davinder, Priya and Erina from Pillbox for their exceptional service throughout. To find out more about the health check you can contact Pillbox Chemists Group & Health-Clinic via Mrs Gurdeep Kaur Nanra, Head of Group Pharmacy Services; email: gknanra@pillboxchemists.co.uk website: www.health-clinic.co.uk tel: 07825 913545. This is something we would be doing again in future and I would urge other organisations to consider the value of delivering these necessary health benefits and insight to their staff.