How Pharmacies Can Help With Common Ailments Book Now

With a bigger focus on helping the local community and easing the pressure on the NHS, people are encouraged to visit their local pharmacist for common ailments before contacting their GP or going to other healthcare professionals. Since pharmacists train for 5 years, they have the necessary knowledge and skills to assist with a wide range of common ailments.

Common Ailments Your Pharmacy Can Help With

One of the many advantages of going to a pharmacy is that you can visit most of them without an appointment and they are usually open late into the evening and at weekends. If you need to discuss something sensitive, nearly all pharmacies have a consultation room where you can speak with staff in private. Here are some of the most common ailments or conditions that patients can get advice and support from their local pharmacy for:

• Headaches and migraines
• Sore throat
• Cold or flu
• Heartburn
• Hay fever and allergies
• Cystitis
• Insect bites and skin rashes
• Constipation
• Teething
• Earache
• A build-up of ear wax (book ear microsuction at Chippenham Pharmacy)

These are just a few of the many common ailments that your local pharmacy can help with. If you have a problem that is not listed here, ask your pharmacist for assistance and they will recommend the best course of treatment.

Benefits Of Visiting Community Pharmacies For Common Ailments

If you are feeling unwell and possibly have any of the listed common ailments, your local pharmacy can help. Since pharmacists are highly trained medical professionals, they can give the same advice and treatment for common ailments and illnesses as your GP. When visiting your local pharmacy, you can ask to see a pharmacist who can also provide private consultation and in most cases, it is much quicker to be seen by a pharmacist than to wait for a GP appointment.

If you are normally exempt from paying for prescriptions, the medicine offered at the pharmacy is free of charge. Even if you usually pay for prescriptions, pharmacists can still offer free advice and dispense cheaper alternatives to what you would usually get prescribed. And remember, just like with a GP visit, anything said to the pharmacist will be treated confidentially.

Occasionally, you will not need medication and will instead receive professional healthcare advice. If the pharmacist believes it would be more beneficial for you to visit another service, they will highlight the most suitable one for you. They will only provide medicine if you have an ongoing condition that requires treatment and any medication must only be used to treat yourself or someone who is dependent on you.

How Pharmacies Are Helping The NHS And General Practitioners

The current state of the NHS can make it difficult for some patients to know where to turn for advice when it comes to common ailments, in particular. With community pharmacies, like Chippenham Pharmacy & Health Clinic, patients have additional access to healthcare advice and essential services.

By managing and supplying more medicines without the need for a GP prescription, pharmacies could free up to 2 million general practice appointments each year. They could also take referrals from emergency care for minor illnesses or symptoms, such as coughs, headaches or sore throats. This would help ease pressures on GPs and free up time for appointments.

The drive toward pharmacy first and self-care for low-acuity conditions help to ease the mounting pressure on the NHS so fewer patients fill up their GP practice for more common ailments and minor health concerns.

Treating Common Ailments At Chippenham Pharmacy & Health Clinic

Looking ahead, pharmacies will play an even bigger role in treating common ailments with more prescribing power, including contraception management and making simple diagnostic tests readily available. If people with minor health conditions went to a community pharmacy rather than their primary care service, it would improve patient access to care and help spread the demand for services more evenly.

In summary, pharmacies can provide expert medical advice and support patients with short-term, common ailments. At Chippenham Pharmacy, we can dispense both NHS and private prescriptions and offer a wide range of NHS and private services. To find out more about what we can do, visit our Clinical Services page which includes a section where you can also book an appointment in a few easy steps.

Other Pharmacy Services

In addition to prescriptions, other services that your local pharmacy may provide include the following:

• Emergency contraception
• Asthma inhaler use and advice
• Chlamydia screening and treatment
• Stop smoking service
• Blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar testing
• Substance abuse service (needle and syringe exchange schemes)
• Weight management service (£25.00 for an online or face-to-face consultation with Chippenham Pharmacy)
• Flu vaccination
• Travel vaccination
• Hay fever and allergy advice and treatment
• Ear wax removal
• Women’s Health (period pain, period delay, thrush)
• Urinary Incontinence

With community pharmacies, like Chippenham Pharmacy & Health Clinic, patients have additional access to healthcare advice and essential services. The drive toward pharmacy first and self-care for low-acuity conditions help to ease the mounting pressure on the NHS.

FAQs

Click the + to read any answer or then either a category or tag to view all questions under that category or tag.