Views on community pharmacy services
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Healthwatch Blackburn with Darwen, Healthwatch Blackpool and Healthwatch Lancashire undertook a survey to understand patient use and preferences relating to community pharmacy services. They engaged with 229 people.
The most frequent reasons given by patients for visiting a pharmacy were:
- To get a prescription for myself
- To get a prescription for someone else
- To buy medicines for myself
This visit usually occurs monthly, with most patients stating they don’t have a preference on the day they visit, or preferring weekdays in general. Of those who responded, 51% chose between 12pm – 8pm as the most convenient time to use their pharmacy. A quarter of overall respondents did not have a preference.
Responses suggest most people use the same pharmacy all of the time, and this tends to be the closest and/or most convenient pharmacy. The key factors that have been shown to influence people’s choice of pharmacy were:
- close to my home
- Close to my GP surgery
- It is easy to get to the pharmacy
- It is easy to park at the pharmacy
Most patients travel to the pharmacy by car, with this journey typically taking between 5 and 15 minutes. Overall, the majority of respondents rated their pharmacy excellent or good, with only four rating it as poor