A new sun safety campaign across community pharmacies in Northern Ireland is encouraging the public to be more “UV aware”.
On the surface, the message is familiar. Check the UV index, use sunscreen and avoid overexposure. But the real focus of the campaign is not awareness alone. It is behaviour.
Despite widespread understanding of sun safety, skin cancer remains the most common cancer in Northern Ireland, accounting for over 30 percent of all diagnoses. The issue is not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of consistent action.
By shifting attention towards the UV index rather than temperature or sunshine, the campaign encourages people to make more informed, real-time decisions about their exposure. It is a subtle change, but one that aims to close the gap between what people know and what they actually do.
Pharmacy plays a central role in making that shift happen.
Delivered through the Living Well service, the campaign reaches patients during everyday interactions. A routine visit to collect medication becomes an opportunity to discuss sun safety, highlight risks linked to certain medicines and encourage early awareness of skin changes.
This approach moves public health messaging out of posters and into practice. It makes advice more personal, more relevant and harder to ignore.
This approach moves public health messaging out of posters and into practice. It makes advice more personal, more relevant and harder to ignore.
It also reflects a broader change in the role of pharmacy. Increasingly, pharmacies are not only treating illness but helping to prevent it. From smoking cessation to weight management and now sun safety, the profession is becoming a key access point for early intervention.
That shift brings opportunity, but also growing expectations.
The advice itself may be simple, but delivering it effectively requires time, confidence and consistency within already pressured teams. As more responsibility is placed on pharmacy to support prevention, the challenge will be balancing that role with existing workload.
The sun safety campaign is a small example of a much bigger trend.
Public health is moving closer to the patient, and pharmacy is where that interaction is happening.
Where to get more information
You can find out what the daily UV index is for your area through the weather app on your smartphone or by downloading the Met Office app.
To find out more about taking care in the sun, visit www.careinthesun.org
If you are concerned about any aspect of cancer, you can call Cancer Focus NI’s Nurseline on 0800 783 3339 (Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9am–1pm) to talk about any cancer-related issue or to find out more about the charity’s cancer support services.