Your experiences of using pharmacy services
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Healthwatch Brighton and Hove, Healthwatch East Sussex and Healthwatch West Sussex report on the results of a short poll about Pharmacy First. They heard from 483 people.
Many respondents were aware of the new services offered by pharmacies. For example, over 50 per cent of respondents were aware you can get a flu vaccine and a blood pressure check at a pharmacy and access support for sore throats and earaches.
Uptake of new pharmacy services by respondents was generally lower than their levels of awareness, ranging from 2-12 per cent with flu vaccinations the highest at 28 per cent.
If respondents had not used the services offered by pharmacies, the majority would go to either a GP (82 per cent) or a nurse at their local surgery (38 per cent) instead. Nearly a third (30 per cent) would also use 111 services.
Respondents are generally very satisfied with services offered by pharmacies. However, 62 per cent of respondents have been affected by lack of available medication in pharmacies and 28 per cent by pharmacy opening hours.
Respondents want to see more convenient opening times, more staff, quicker prescription turnaround and better relationships between pharmacies and GPs