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Sixty community pharmacies in Northern Ireland will today start providing palliative care medicines and specialist advice as part of a Government scheme to improve care for people who are at the end of their lives.

The Community Pharmacy Palliative Care Network was launched by the health minister Mike Nesbitt during a visit to McCoubrey’s Chemist in north Belfast.

The service was designed by the Department of Health (DoH) and Community Pharmacy Northern Ireland (CPNI), whose chief executive Gerard Greene said the network will provide “a further level of support, ensuring timely access to medicines and specialist advice will be available”.

“Community Pharmacies play a vital role in supporting patients and their families at what can be a very difficult end of life stage,” Greene said.

Nesbitt said: “The launch of the Community Pharmacy Palliative Care Network marks an important step in strengthening palliative care across Northern Ireland.

“The Network, which was referenced in our Winter Preparedness Plan, will ensure that patients and their families receive timely, compassionate support at one of the most difficult times in life.”

The Government said: “People are considered to be approaching the end of life when they are likely to die within the next 12 months, although this isn’t always possible to predict”.

It said end-of-life care can be provided to people “whose death is imminent” as well as those who have an advanced incurable illness such as cancer, dementia or motor neurone disease and are frail and have co-existing conditions “that mean they are expected to die within 12 months”.

The Government said people who “have existing conditions if they are at risk of dying from a sudden crisis in their condition” and those with a life-threatening acute condition caused by a sudden catastrophic event such as an accident or stroke are also eligible for end-of-life care.

Pictured left to right: Kathryn Turner, head of pharmacy and medicines management at DoH, chief pharmaceutical officer Cathy Harrison, Joe Magee from McCoubrey’s Chemist, health minister Mike Nesbitt, Northern Ireland lead pharmacist for palliative and end-of-life care Peter Armstrong, McCoubrey’s Chemist staff and CPNI chief executive Gerard Greene.