DESPITE the heroic efforts pharmacists around the globe put in to improve medicines safety, they're rarely the star of Hollywood movies.
While that is unlikely to change anytime soon, Britain's National Health Service (NHS) is doing its best to highlight pharmacists' scope of practice with a series of new 1950s B-movie-style posters, to encourage patients with minor ailments to visit their local pharmacy rather than GP for treatment.
The campaign, which will launch on 20 Jan, uses the tag-line ,"Take the drama out of minor illnesses - see a pharmacist".
NHS England Head of Marketing, Phil Bastable, said the promotion aims to help the NHS help patients.
"This year we're asking the public to 'take the drama out of minor illnesses' with an exciting new campaign creative, that we hope will really cut through and change behaviour," he said.
"Community pharmacists are invaluable NHS experts, often underutilised because not everybody understands how qualified they are to help."
One campaign poster features an image of a bloodshot eye with the title, Night of the Itchy Eye, with movie-style credits saying "Produced by an Infection or Allergy, starring a Bloodshot or Watering Eye with a Burning or Gritty Sensation", before urging patients to "See a pharmacist."
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