If you care for someone who takes a lot of tablets each day you’ll probably know how blister packs can reduce some of the stress.
Also known as Monitored Dosage Systems (MDS) – all a patient’s pills are organised into compartments and sorted by days of the week and specific times.
Community Pharmacy NI estimates that more than 50,000 people in Northern Ireland get assistance like this each week but that “many pharmacy teams are at capacity”.
That’s the case for pharmacist Orfhlaith McAreavey who said she had to turn people down on a daily basis.
“If someone has sadly passed away, we might have a space to be able to fit them in, but yeah, it’s a really in-demand service,” she said.
In a statement, the Department of Health said decisions on MDS packs were made on a “case-by-case” basis.