Charity links up with pharmacies to promote inclusive cafés

16 March 2022

A learning disability charity in Portsmouth has teamed up with a local community pharmacy to promote its inclusive cafés.

The link-up between Lily&Lime and Lalys Pharmacy will see a takeaway café set up in Lalys’ Kingston Road branch, offering barista coffee and snacks. The café will open on 4 April and hopes to create a welcoming feel for the patients of the pharmacy and the local community.

This will be the second Lily&Lime café serving the people of Portsmouth, alongside its premises in the Central Library. Both the cafés offer work experience to people with learning disabilities and training to help them work towards employment.

This training is much-needed, as approximately 8 out of 10 working age people with a learning disability have a mild or moderate learning disability, but less than 2 in 10 are in employment (Mencap).

Lily&Lime is a social business run by Minstead Trust, a local charity which supports more than 220 people with learning disabilities across Portsmouth and Hampshire to find work, learn new skills, and live in their own homes.

Minstead Trust and Lalys will also be collaborating on a project entitled ‘Pharmacy for All’ where the two organisations are hoping to make pharmacies and wider healthcare more inclusive and supportive.

Sophie Enright, Café Manager, said: ‘We are delighted to be working with Lalys Pharmacy and opening our second Lily&Lime café. It will create a unique opportunity for some of our graduated apprentices to progress into management’

Chris Hillman, Head of Employability and Apprenticeships said: ‘The Pharmacy for All project has a great foundation to really make a difference to pharmacy services in Portsmouth and help relieve pressure on the NHS. We are delighted to be working in collaboration with Lalys on this.’

Baldev Laly, Director of Lalys Pharmacy said: ‘This is something we have always wanted to do but didn’t know how to. We want to give back to the community and help people who need it most.

‘We are excited about this collaboration and want the people who work at Lily&Lime to feel comfortable and happy in our pharmacy.

‘We are excited to see how this link up develops and, if it goes well, we hope to do even more to support people with learning disabilities in the future.’

If you would like to find out about receiving employment support for someone with a learning disability, or if you represent a business interested in providing work experience, visit www.minsteadtrust.org.uk/lilyandlime

Lalys Pharmacy operate five premises across Portsmouth, more at www.lalyspharmacy.co.uk

– ENDS –

Photo caption:

Baldev Laly, Director of Lalys Pharmacy; Georgia Davies, Lalys Pharmacy Business Support Lead, Sophie Enright, Lily&Lime Café and Events Manager; Chris Hillman, Minstead Trust Head of Employability and Apprenticeships.