Patients advised to seek “Care at the Chemist”

Patients advised to seek “Care at the Chemist”

The popular Minor Ailments Scheme “Care at the Chemist”, which enables patients to get medication for minor conditions directly from a pharmacy instead of seeing a GP, is being re-launched on 15 October 2012.

NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Clinical Commissioning Group (HMR CCG) fund this scheme for patients who have certain conditions such as coughs, colds and temperatures. It helps them to get the medication they need directly from a local participating pharmacy instead of visiting their GP. 40 pharmacies across the borough will be providing this service.

The scheme has already saved a massive 10,400 unnecessary trips to the doctor (based on January to December 2010 figures). It has freed up appointments for people with chronic conditions, helped to shorten appointment waiting times, reduced the amount of antibiotics GP’s prescribed and made use of the skills and knowledge that local pharmacists have.

Dr Chris Duffy, NHS HMR CCG Chair said: ”Often patients go to see their GP when their local pharmacist could help them instead. The Care in the Chemist scheme is a quick and effective way for you to get the treatment you need for some minor conditions without having to make an appointment to see your GP. It also means that valuable appointment slots are freed up for others.”
Aneet Kapoor, Local Pharmaceutical Committee representative and local pharmacist added: “Independent evaluation of the local Rochdale borough scheme carried out in 2010 showed that 86% of patients who accessed the service said that they would have attended a GP appointment if the scheme was not available. Care at the Chemist not only frees up appointment slots but also improves access for patients, as they can call in to their community pharmacy at any time, without an appointment.

Most of those who have used the scheme are parents of children aged between 0 and 10, which shows that they have confidence in the scheme, however, we would like to encourage all adults to use the scheme, especially those over 60 years old.”

Conditions that can be treated via the Minor Ailments Scheme are allergic rash, bites and stings, athlete’s foot, cold sores, conjunctivitis, constipation, coughs and colds, diarrhoea, hay fever, head lice, headaches, temperature, fever, indigestion, mouth ulcers, nappy rash, nasal congestion, sore throat, teething, threadworms and vaginal thrush.