Education/research
Education is one of the many important channels which can help us make a difference to people’s understanding of health issues. As an international pharmacy-led health and beauty group, Alliance Boots is committed to helping improve healthcare in the communities we serve. We have developed a framework which allows each of our principal businesses to provide appropriate support to relevant educational authorities within their area of operation.
Supporting Learning & Skills
Over the past four years, the Learning and Skills Improvement Service's ‘Work Shadowing’ scheme has enabled hundreds of leaders, managers and employees to gain experience of practice outside their own organisation. Boots UK achieved recognition for its mentoring and volunteering work as part of this scheme and Ornella Barra, Chairman of the social responsibilities committee, collected an award at a reception in October 2008 hosted by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service and held at the House of Lords in London. Over 100 leaders from the further education and skills sector and from businesses gathered to learn more about 'Work Shadowing', where former hosts and 'shadows' took the opportunity to give their perspective on the scheme.
Alliance Healthcare France university lecture programme
For many years, Alliance Healthcare France has worked in partnership with universities across France to help their pharmacy students gain a more practical insight into the pharmacy profession. During 2008/09, lectures were conducted in the pharmacy faculties of over 20 universities across the country, covering various topics including healthcare in the home, pharmacy management and merchandising.
Safety in the sun
Alliance Healthcare España, our principal Spanish pharmaceutical wholesaling business, chose to focus on promoting sun safety messages in the wider community during 2008. This was achieved through educational seminars and radio programmes, and the sponsorship of community events.
As well as running a number of local suncare campaigns during the year, where sun protection advice was given and Soltan samples were distributed, we also sponsored Sun Protection for Sensitive Skin and Children seminars given by dermatologists in Barcelona and Madrid, specifically targeting independent pharmacists. In addition, in partnership with Wave radio, the General Pharmacists Association and the Spanish Dermatology Academy, we launched a programme to give listeners suncare advice. This programme included 10 short talks on suncare given by either a dermatologist or a pharmacist over a three month period.
‘Green Chemistry’ in action
To help children explore the science behind a number of everyday products, including the steps that can be taken to improve these products sustainability, Boots UK recently helped to create two interactive kiosks for use as educational tools. The kiosks, which took several months to design and develop, use touch screen technology to illustrate the application of ‘Green Chemistry’. They made their debut in March 2009 at the York Festival of Science & Technology, where more than 450 schoolchildren took a journey with ‘Fabs the Green Chemist,’ a cartoon frog, to design a more environmentally-friendly bubble bath.
This activity follows on from the creation in January 2008 of the Discover and Explore Green Consumer Products project, an innovative education initiative in the UK designed to show how the products people enjoy as part of everyday life can affect the environment. Supported by funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s Partnerships for Public Engagement scheme, this initiative was the result of a partnership between Boots UK, the Green Chemistry Network, At-Bristol and the Glasgow Science Centre team.
