Services
We are dedicated to providing patients with continued excellence in our services.
for a more extensive breakdown of our services or any questions feel free to Contact Us
Extra care is necessary when taking several different medicines. This is particularly true for patients with visual or cognitive impairment.
Blister packs make it simple and easy to take the right medicines at the right time by dividing your tablets into separately sectioned blisters, each marked with the time of day when the tablets should be taken.
This can improve your medication adherence and reduce errors. Caregivers can also easily check that the right medicines have been taken in a timely manner.
Blister packs can help if you are
- Struggling to organise medicines.
- Finding it difficult to remember when to take your medicines.
- Helping to look after someone else.
- Recently home from hospital and suddenly have a lot more tablets to take.
- Looking after someone who is visually impaired.
- On a complex medication regime.
Hypertension is the foremost risk factor for cardiovascular events globally and affects around a third of adults.
High blood pressure can affect people of all ages but does not always have symptoms. Untreated, high blood pressure may lead to conditions like heart disease or a stroke.
Monitoring your blood pressure for 24 hours can help work out if its consistently high. This would be particularly useful if you:
- Have family members with a history of high blood pressure.
- Suspect you have high or borderline high blood pressure.
- Experience variable blood pressure.
- Have conditions such as diabetes or high cholesterol.
- Already take medicines to reduce your blood pressure.
- Experience blood pressure that is hard to control.
- Want to check for Atrial Fibrillation (irregular heartbeat).
For convenience and proximity reasons, community pharmacies play an increasingly important role in hypertension screening and monitoring.
Our service involves fitting you with a device to wear, which includes a cuff around your arm that will measure your blood pressure for 24 hours.
| Blood Pressure Category | Systolic mm Hg (upper number) | Diastolic mm Hg (lower number) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | Less than 120 | and | Less than 80 |
| Elevated | 120-129 | and | Less than 80 |
| High Blood Pressure – Hypertension Stage 1 | 130-139 | or | 80-89 |
| High Blood Pressure – Hypertension Stage 2 | Higher than 140 | or | Higher than 90 |
| Hypertensive Crisis | Higher than 180 | and/or | Higher than 120 |
A blood sugar test is used to test people for type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is a condition characterised by high blood sugar (glucose) levels. It is caused by a lack or insufficiency of insulin which regulates the way glucose is used in your body.
You should consider a blood sugar test if you experience symptoms of diabetes such as
- Constantly feeling thirsty or hungry
- Unexplained weight loss
- Frequent urination
- Blurry vision
- Extreme fatigue
This is especially the case if you any of the risk factors apply to you including being overweight, family history of diabetes, high blood pressure, lack of exercise, over 40 years old or high cholesterol.
The American Diabetes Association recommends testing for prediabetes and risk for future diabetes for all people beginning at age 45 years. If tests are normal, it is reasonable to repeat testing at a minimum of 3-year intervals.
COVID-19 vaccine booster dose
COVID-19 vaccines are strongly recommended to protect people from serious illness caused by COVID-19 (coronavirus).Adapted Booster Vaccine
- Adapted vaccines are bivalent and contain mRNA based on the spike protein of the ancestral virus, as in the original vaccine, as well as mRNA based on the spike protein of the variant strain, either Omicron BA.1 or Omicron BA.4/5.
- They are adapted to better match circulating variants.
- They are expected to give broader protection against different variants, although their impact on future variants is unpredictable
- In studies comparing the original vaccine, neutralising antibody levels induced by adapted vaccines were similar against the original COVID-19 strain and higher against Omicron.
Who is being offered a 1st booster dose?
- the 1st booster is being offered to all people age 12 and over (it must be over 4 months since a previous COVID-19 vaccination or infection)
Who is being offered a 2nd booster dose & how long to wait?
- age 18-49 (must be over 6 months since a previous COVID-19 vaccination or infection).
- age over 50 (must be over 4 months since a previous COVID-19 vaccination or infection).
- age 12 or older with a condition that puts you at high risk of serious illness from COVID-19 e.g. diabetes, asthma or heart disease (must be over 4 months since a previous COVID-19 vaccination or infection).
- pregnant from 16 weeks (must be over 4 months since a previous COVID-19 vaccination or infection)
- healthcare workers - please bring ID (must be over 4 months since a previous COVID-19 vaccination or infection)
Who is being offered a 3rd booster dose?
- age 65 or older
- age 12 or older with a weak immune system
COVID-19 Antigen Testing Service also avaliable
With results in only 20 minutes, the COVID-19 Antigen Test is a nasopharyngeal swab test which detects the COVID-19 Antigen. Early detection allows more efficient and effective control of the virus. The test is being offered primarily for the purposes of essential travel. Your result is available within 15 minutes. Our Rapid Antigen test has a sensitivity of 97.04% and a specificity of 99.9%. A Travel Certificate is provided which is mutually recognised by all member states across the EU and on common list of EU COVID-19 rapid antigen tests.Diabetes mellitus (“diabetes”) is one of the fastest growing chronic diseases worldwide, and is related to significant morbidity, mortality, and health care costs. Diabetes is characterized by high levels of glucose in the blood (hyperglycaemia).
There are three main types of diabetes:
- Type 1 diabetes mellitus in which there is an absolute deficiency in insulin production. This disease can occur at any age, though it typically occurs in children and young adults.
- Type 2 diabetes mellitus which is associated with insulin resistance, with an initial increase in insulin secretion. However, over time, insulin insufficiency occurs. Although type 2 diabetes mostly occurs in people aged over 40 years old.
- Gestational diabetes which occurs during pregnancy. The condition usually vanishes once the baby is born. However, a history of gestational diabetes increases a woman’s possibility of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.
Patient care interventions provided by community pharmacies can be defined as complex public health treatments usually provided by pharmacists to patients in the community pharmacy setting. In diabetes, such interventions may include health promotion and diabetes prevention, screening of at-risk individuals, diabetes management, patient education and support on self-monitoring, and medical referral, when suitable.
Emergency Hormonal Contraception (morning after pill) can be used to prevent unplanned pregnancy.
An unplanned pregnancy could occur due to mishaps with contraceptives, a missed pill, incorrect timing of patch or vaginal ring application.
Emergency contraception is not suitable as a regular method of contraception and it does not prevent pregnancy in every woman. It can be used by women of all ages to prevent unplanned pregnancy.
Emergency contraception is most effective if taken as soon as possible after unprotected sex.
However, if you are already pregnant, emergency contraceptive pills will not work.
Medical card holders can get emergency contraception directly from a pharmacy, free of charge, without having to go to their GP for a prescription.
Emergency contraception does not provide protection from sexually transmitted infections.
Our compassionate pharmacists provide access to emergency hormonal contraception (EHC) following a private consultation.
Seasonal flu or influenza is an acute respiratory infection caused by flu viruses which circulate in all parts of the world.
Seasonal flu symptoms include a high temperature, a severe (usually dry) cough, headache, muscle pain, joint pain, sore throat, and a runny nose. A person with the flu will also feel extremely unwell.
Most people recover from the symptoms within a week or two without requiring medical attention. But flu can cause severe illness or death especially in people at high risk (see below).
Illnesses range from mild to severe and even death. Hospitalisation and death occur mainly among high risk groups.
The most effective way to prevent the flu is get vaccinated. An annual vaccination is recommended as immunity decreases over time. The flu vaccine can be administered as an injection or using an intra-nasal spray.
While everyone should consider getting a flu vaccine, it is especially important that the following groups get vaccinated:
- Persons aged 65 years and older.
- Persons with a chronic illness requiring regular follow up, e.g. chronic respiratory disease (including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, moderate or severe asthma and bronchopulmonary dysplasia), chronic heart disease (including acute coronary syndrome), chronic renal disease, diabetes mellitus, haemoglobinopathies, chronic liver disease, chronic neurological disease (including multiple sclerosis, hereditary and degenerative disorders of the central nervous system).
- Those who are immunosuppressed due to disease or treatment including those with missing or non-functioning spleens.
- All cancer patients.
- Patients with any condition that can compromise respiratory function, e.g. spinal cord injury, seizure disorder or other neuromuscular disorder.
- Persons with Down syndrome.
- Those with morbid obesity, i.e. body mass index over 40.
- All pregnant women (vaccine can be given at any stage of pregnancy).
- Healthcare workers.
- Household contacts of at-risk persons.
- Out-of-home care givers to at-risk persons.
- Residents of nursing homes and other long stay institutions.
- Carers.
- People with regular contact with pigs, poultry, or waterfowl.
If you find it difficult to come to the pharmacy to collect your medicines, we are happy to deliver to patients in the locality for free. Please call us if you need to avail of this service and we can organise a delivery time that suits.
We offer a home delivery services and are especially conscious of our vulnerable patients. Delivery is perfect for patients who have difficulty coming into the store for their medicines due to tight schedules, illness, or other reasons.
Our Medication Usage Review is a pre-booked consultation to discuss your medicines (prescribed and non-prescribed). The review helps increase your knowledge and understanding of your medicines, including how and why the medicines should be taken.
Our aim is to improve outcomes by helping you to better understand your health conditions and the medications used to manage them.
The review also provides an opportunity to highlight any issues, side effects or other medication-related problems and propose solutions if appropriate.
This review can be especially helpful for people who are older, have several chronic conditions, take multiple medications, have been using a specific medication over a longer period or are seen by multiple doctors.
Nutrients are substances that are essential for good health - promoting energy, providing building blocks to form body structures, and helping to regulate body functions.
Protein, carbohydrate, and fat are classified as macronutrients providing energy to fuel the body plus protein is broken down into amino acids to repair and grow new muscle fibres.
Minerals and vitamins are classified as micronutrients and play a key role in the body's structures and functions.
The Irish government and the HSE publish detailed nutritional guidelines comprising a few key points:
- Eat more vegetables, salad, and fruit - Up to seven servings a day.
- Limit your intake of high fat, sugar, salt (HFSS) food and drinks.
- Reduce portion sizes and use the food pyramid as a guide.
- Increase your physical activity.
For many people, following a balanced and healthy diet coupled with exercise, will provide all the nutritional needs of your body.
However, nutritional needs vary with age, activity, and medication - particularly the long-term use of medications.
With age the lean body mass naturally reduces and there is an increase in body fat. This generally results in reduced mobility and subsequent risk of osteoporosis and falls.
It also reduces the metabolic rate causing the body's energy requirements to fall which may in turn may lessen your appetite. The reduced intake of foods may also decrease your micronutrient intake (for example vitamins).
Certain medications are well known for causing side effects such as nausea or drowsiness affecting nutritional intake, but sometimes a lesser known side effect happens without giving you any warning: nutrient deficiency.
Most medications for a short amount of time will not lead to nutrient deficiency.
But long-term use can be different - reducing the absorption of certain vitamins or depleting minerals in the body or even inhibiting the production of important enzymes.
Even commonly used medications like some statins, PPIs (for acid reflux) and diuretics (lower blood pressure) etc taken for long periods can lead to nutrient deficiency.
If you feel any of the above apply to you, we can complete a review of your medications and diet to provide guidance on what nutritional supplements would benefit you.
Using our instant digital photo equipment, we can offer the following professional photo services.
- Passport Photos (Standard & Online)
- Driving License Photos
- PSV License Photos
- American Passports and Other Nationalities
- Taxi License Photo
- Passport Photos for toddlers (2yrs plus) & children
- Garda ID Photos
Taxi License Photos
We print passport-style photographs, each measuring 10cm by 7cm as per taxi driver license requirements, showing your head and shoulders and complying with standards for passport photographs.
Passport Photos (Standard & Online)
We print and check that developed photos meet all requirements of the Irish Passport Office, both for print and online versions.
Every year in Ireland, nearly 6,000 people die because of smoking with many more suffering from smoking related diseases. The HSE estimates that 1,000 people are admitted to hospital every week with an illness caused by smoking.
In our pharmacy, we help smokers break nicotine addiction by recommending Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT). NRT comes in many different forms including patches and gums. It is important that the right option is chosen to suit individual needs.
Evidence has shown that if a smoker participates in a smoking cessation service that combines advice, support, and Nicotine Replacement Therapy that the smoker is 4 times more likely to quit compared to using willpower alone.
According to the HSE, obesity levels in Ireland have reached “epidemic proportions” and affect up to a fifth of all adults and result in 2,000 premature deaths annually.
Weight management means maintaining a healthy body weight. Body weight can affect health in many ways. Being overweight can increase your chances of developing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and other cardiovascular problems.
If people maintain a healthy weight, this will decrease the risk of developing these problems. In addition to improve general health, losing weight can help to increase levels of confidence and make people feel better.
If people are serious about losing weight, we could help reach the goal, with the support of a highly trained healthcare professional on hand for information, advice, and encouragement.
We are here to help you figure out what direction is best for you as there is no such thing as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ weight management product or programme.