Pharmacy First

Healthwatch Northumberland undertook a survey on Pharmacy First. 126 people responded.

Judging from the results of this project, it appears that, overall, about two thirds of Northumberland respondents have heard of the Pharmacy First service (63%) and of those that had heard of the service, about two thirds of respondents had used Pharmacy First (63%). However:

• In North Northumberland a majority of respondents had not heard of the service (61%)
• Across the whole of the county men weren’t as aware of the scheme as women, with a slight majority of men who hadn’t heard of the scheme (55%)
• Awareness of the Pharmacy First scheme was good across all age bands, except in the 80+ year olds where just over half of the elderly respondents had not heard of the scheme (53%) 

In terms of usage of the scheme, more people used the Pharmacy First service to get treatment for conditions other than one of the seven conditions that the service covers. Otherwise, sore throats and urinary tract infections were the most common reasons for seeking treatment. 

The message to use pharmacy first appears to be working as, overall, over two thirds of respondents said they did not try to make an appointment with their GP first. For those under 50 years old and all ages of men, this rose to four out of five respondents saying that they did not try to make an appointment with their GP first. So, although less men are aware of the service, they are more likely to use the scheme than women. 

Most respondents felt happy about the level of support they got from the pharmacy, in terms of diagnosis and treatment and that their needs were met. Only a quarter of respondents said they were asked to see a GP or other NHS service, with the GP being the most common service that respondents said they were asked to attend. As a consequence, over 85% of respondents were very likely or likely to recommend the Pharmacy First service to a friend. 

In the future, most respondents would be happy to see a pharmacist for any of the seven Pharmacy First conditions. However, the two most common concerns about seeing a community pharmacist were the pharmacist missing something more serious or still needing to go to the GP, with about half of the respondents choosing one or both of these worries. 

Overall, Pharmacy First is seen as a great service, where you can be seen quickly, so relieving pressure on GPs. However, there are some concerns around confidentiality as about one in five respondents said they hadn’t been seen in a private area. While Healthwatch recognise the physical constraints in some premises, lack of confidential space is an area to address if the take up of services is to be maximised.