A County Down woman has praised the actions of her local pharmacy after she had a near-fatal allergic reaction to a bee sting, saying the treatment she received was “nothing other than lifesaving”.

Moira resident Joan Johnston recounted how she experienced intense itching and redness after being stung by a bee on her scalp while in her garden, and how her symptoms spread rapidly to her neck and ears. When she attended her local Boots branch the advice of her GP, pharmacist Stephen Joyce made an urgent antihistamine supply but quickly saw that a more drastic intervention was required. 

Ms Johnston said: “The pharmacy team assisted me to a chair and called an ambulance. I felt short of breath, dizzy, and began to lose consciousness, at which point, I was lowered to the floor and raised my feet to elevate my blood pressure. It was really frightening how quickly it got so serious. I was completely in their hands.” 

“Stephen administered intramuscular adrenaline, and my GP arrived to give me oxygen and an intravenous steroid. It was only after the incident when the details were relayed to me by my husband that I realised the outcome could have been very different for me”.

Ms Johnston told her story as part of the Ask Your Pharmacist public awareness drive taking place from October 30 to November 6. She said: “This Ask Your Pharmacist Week, I want to raise awareness of the vital services local pharmacies provide.

"They are highly trained clinicians and we shouldn’t forget about the role they play. I am so grateful for the treatment that I received from Stephen and his team. Their expertise saved my life.”

Mr Joyce commented: “With community pharmacy ’s accessibility, we treat and advise patients on a range of health conditions. At times, as in Joan’s case, the situation can be much more extreme but not unusual. 

“Community pharmacy teams across Northern Ireland are seeing and treating increasing numbers of often ‘unseen’ and often lifesaving interventions. 

“I am just glad that we were able to help in what could have been a very different outcome had she not come into the pharmacy to see us." 

Community Pharmacy Northern Ireland chief executive Gerard Greene said: “As providers of primary care, we are acutely aware of the pressures being felt right across the health service at the moment with both GP appointments in high demand and Emergency Departments consistently overloaded.

“Joan’s story illustrates how important community pharmacy teams are in providing patients with access right on their doorstep to highly trained teams of clinical experts in their community pharmacy .”