Community Pharmacy

Healthwatch York and Healthwatch North Yorkshire were contacted by Community Pharmacy North Yorkshire to seek feedback about people’s experiences of local pharmacies across York and North Yorkshire. The aim is to establish a baseline regarding public perception of pharmacy services across North Yorkshire and York, with a view to repeating the survey in future years to see what impact new initiatives and services have on people’s views. This research comes off the back of the announcement of the introduction of ‘Pharmacy First’, which gives pharmacists the ability to prescribe treatment for conditions that previously would have required a GP visit.

Healthwatch York, Healthwatch North Yorkshire and Community Pharmacy North Yorkshire worked together to develop a survey. This was available online and in paper. The survey ran from 22 May to 17 July 2023. 94 people responded.

Feedback was mixed. Where people had a good experience, they rated pharmacies highly and used and benefited from all the services they offer. These pharmacies were seen as a key part of the local community and were valued. However, other people struggled with their local pharmacies and found the service less than ideal. In these instances, people still went to pharmacies as they were local and convenient and put up with the poor service.

It is clear from the responses that there is a lack of awareness of which services pharmacies provide under their NHS contract. There is also a lack of awareness and understanding regarding the realities of their work, and the wider challenges facing community pharmacy. For example, many people expect prescriptions to be available to collect within 24 hours of sending a repeat prescription request.