Think Pharmacy First
Pharmacists are highly trained healthcare professionals who can offer expert advice on a wide range of minor conditions. They can recommend over-the-counter treatments, provide care through the NHS Minor Ailments Scheme, prescribe medicines for seven common conditions, and supply contraception - often without the need to see your GP.
Pharmacists have always helped patients, families and carers in their communities stay healthy and are well placed to offer treatment for health conditions. By expanding the services community pharmacies offer, the NHS is aiming to free up GP appointments and give people more choice in how and where they access care.
Don't wait for minor health concerns to get worse – think pharmacy first and get seen by your local pharmacy team.
Visit the NHS website for more information on how community pharmacists can help you.
Under the NHS Minor Ailments Scheme, pharmacists can offer free advice and treatment for a range of everyday conditions without you needing to see a doctor. In some cases, they can also supply medicines on the NHS.
- Back-ache, sprains and strains
- Colds
- Conjunctivitis
- Constipation
- Coughs
- Diarrhoea
- Earache
- Haemorrhoids
- Hay fever
- Head lice
- Headache and fever
- Heartburn and indigestion
- Insect bites and stings
- Mild eczema and dermatitis
- Minor fungal skin infections
- Mouth ulcers
- Nappy rash
- Sore throat
- Teething
- Threadworm
- Thrush
The NHS find a service search tool can locate the nearest pharmacies to any postcode. Give it a try:
Community pharmacies can offer prescription treatment for seven common conditions without patients needing to see a GP or get a prescription as part of a major transformation in the way the NHS delivers care. Highly trained pharmacists at more than nine in ten pharmacies can now assess and offer treatment for:
- Earache (aged 1 to 17 years)
- Impetigo (a contagious skin infection - aged 1 year and over)
- Infected insect bites (aged 1 year and over)
- Shingles (aged 18 years and over)- infection that causes a painful rash
- Sinusitis (aged 12 years and over)- infection of the sinuses (behind the forehead, cheeks and nose)
- Sore throat (aged 5 years and over)
- Urinary tract infections (UTIs) (women aged 16 to 64 years)
The pharmacist will offer you advice, treatment or refer you to a GP or another healthcare professional if needed. Pharmacies will update your GP health record. If you are not within these age ranges, a pharmacist can still offer advice, but you may need to see a GP for treatment.
Please note on weekends online self-referral may take longer as the practice is closed and will not look at your assessment till we are open, for quicker response please walk into your local pharmacy.
The NHS find a service search tool can locate the nearest pharmacies to any postcode. Give it a try:
You may be able to get the contraceptive pill from a pharmacy if you need to:
- start the contraceptive pill for the first time
- take the contraceptive pill again after a break from using it
If you already have a prescription for the contraceptive pill, you can use the prescription as usual. Or you can get the pill from a pharmacy without a prescription if you prefer.
Find a pharmacy that offers the contraceptive pill without a prescription
You can get a free blood pressure checked at a pharmacy without seeing a GP, if you:
- are aged 40 or over
- live in England
- you cannot get a free blood pressure check if you:
- already have high blood pressure
- have had your blood pressure checked by a healthcare professional in the
- past 6 months
