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Pharmacy First consultations up 10pc in week before Christmas

NHS & health news

Pharmacy First consultations up 10pc in week before Christmas

Pharmacist Taseta (far right) at a recent visit to Rowlands Pharmacy in Warsop by Mansfield MP Steve Yemm

Pharmacy First consultations in multiple pharmacies saw a 10 per cent uplift in the week leading up to Christmas, the CCA reports.

“This provides further evidence that Pharmacy First is providing vital NHS access for patients, often at times when they are unable to access other parts of the NHS,” the Association says.

The CCA estimates that community pharmacies in England would have delivered 65,000 consultations in the week leading up to Christmas, noting that it is common to see spikes in consultations around bank holidays and when other providers may not be readily accessible. There was a 15 per cent spike in activity during the CrowdStrike IT outage in July 2024, for example.

At a Rowland’s Pharmacy in Warsop, Mansfield, pharmacist Taseta saw an increase in the number patients presenting with sore throats, especially amongst school children and staff. She noted they also had more UTI consultations, but the usual numbers of patients with earache.

She also noted there was an increase in patients engaging with the Pharmacy Contraception Service, which could have been due to time constraints at the local surgery.

Taseta added: “The Pharmacy First service is very well received locally especially during holiday periods when GP appointments can be hard to get, and the other alternative is walk-in centres, which from our location are a good few miles away.”

CCA chief executive Malcolm Harrison commented: “It is great to see the real-time impact Pharmacy First has within a community, especially when other parts of the NHS may not be readily accessible. The service has delivered in a short space of time and there’s potential to do so much more.”

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