Visit your local pharmacy first for seven minor conditions

Earlier this year 75% of people said they wanted to see pharmacies offering more healthcare services such as treating urinary tract infections or sore throats, and now they will be. Almost all pharmacies will offer the new service, giving advice and, if needed, NHS medicines, to treat seven common health conditions – and all without needing to get a GP appointment.

As experts in medicines and managing minor illnesses, pharmacists have been backed by Government and the NHS to provide a new NHS ‘Pharmacy First’ service. Many pharmacies across Cheshire & Merseyside have signed up to support people in certain age groups seeking help for sore throats, earache in children, sinusitis, infected insect bites, impetigo, shingles, and urinary tract infections in women.

The service enables pharmacists to offer advice to patients and supply NHS medicines (including antibiotics), where clinically appropriate, for:

1. Sinusitis – for children and adults aged 12 years and over;
2. Sore throat – for children and adults aged 5 years and over;
3. Earache (Acute otitis media) – for children aged 1 to 17 years;
4. Infected insect bite – for children and adults aged 1 year and over;
5. Impetigo – for children and adults aged 1 year and over;
6. Shingles – for adults aged 18 years and over; and
7. Uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women aged 16 to 64 years.

The Pharmacy First service will be available to patients on referral by their GP practice, NHS 111, and NHS Walk-in Centres/Urgent Treatment Centres – as well as by contacting their pharmacy directly.

Susanne Lynch, Chief Pharmacist for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, said:

“I’m really pleased that the vast majority of pharmacies in Cheshire and Merseyside have chosen to take part in the Pharmacy First scheme, in order to help deliver improvements in care for patients."
“Community pharmacies are already delivering more than 10,000 patient interventions in a high street pharmacy setting each month in Cheshire and Merseyside, and this service will significantly expand that offer."
“Our pharmacy teams are working hard to build these new services into their daily workload, and we hope that members of the public will take full advantage of the offer as a fast and convenient way to access treatment for these conditions.”

The Pharmacy First service will build on existing patient services for treating minor conditions available in a pharmacy setting, as well as blood pressure testing and oral contraception services which were made available in more community pharmacies from the end of last year. 

The scheme is a key part of the government’s primary care access recovery plan, which committed to making accessing healthcare treatment and advice easier for millions of people. 

Dave Wilson, chief Officer of Healthwatch Halton said:

“This new service will make it so much easier for people to access the healthcare advice and support they need, when they need it. Pharmacists are medicines experts and members of the public should feel assured that the healthcare advice they receive from pharmacists and their teams will be second to none. With all the pressures across the NHS, it’s our responsibility to direct our requests for help to the right place. For common minor illnesses, we should all be thinking ‘Pharmacy First’.”