Did you know there is a new NHS service available in ALL pharmacies across Shropshire…
If you, your child, or a family member is feeling poorly, ‘Think Pharmacy First’. Your local pharmacy is a great place to get healthcare advice and treatment. Pharmacies are easy to reach, usually located within local communities, and often open evenings and weekends. Your local pharmacist can treat you and give you medicines for minor illnesses like coughs, colds and eye infections without you having to wait to see a doctor first. It can be quicker to see your pharmacist than your GP.
Pharmacists can help if you have:
• Sinusitis – sinus infection which can be a blocked or bunged-up nose as well as pain/pressure around the eyes, cheeks and forehead (aged 12 years and over)
• A dry, scratchy, or sore throat which can also include pus-filled spots or white patches on your tonsils (aged 5 and older)
• Earache, which may feel sore, itchy and blocked, and you may also have a high temperature (aged 1 to 17 years)
• Infected insect bites which can include redness, weepiness, swelling and is hot to touch the skin (aged 1 year and older)
• Impetigo, which can give you itchy, weeping sores that become crusty, commonly around the nose, lips and chin (aged 1 year and older)
• Shingles, which can give you a painful rash and make you feel unwell (aged 18 years and over).
• A urinary tract infection which can feel like a burning or a pain when you pee
(women aged 16 to 64 years)
Advice is free and confidential, and the pharmacy will send your GP an electronic update so that this can be recorded on your health record. Normal prescription charges and exemptions (those who do not have to pay, including children) will apply.
If the pharmacy team can’t help you, they will tell you by referring you to an appropriate healthcare setting.