Care at the Chemist Report - August 2019

Summary

Care at the Chemist is a service provided by pharmacies in Liverpool for the treatment of some minor ailments. Pharmacists are able to provide treatments for an agreed range of conditions. This means that the patient does not need to visit their GP for a prescription. The service is free for those people who don’t pay for their prescriptions. The service covers a range of minor ailments including cold sores, constipation, haemorrhoids and others. The service is available for patients aged 2 years and over.

We receive some pharmacy-related feedback each year from members of the public but these are small in number compared to feedback about other services such as GPs and hospitals. As such, we were interested to carry out some specific engagement about local pharmacy services to find out what local people think about these.

354 people completed our survey: 276 by post, 77 online and 1 by telephone.

Key Findings

• 65% of respondents found out about the service from the pharmacy team
• People like the fact that they can get treatment without the need to see their GP
• People, particularly those on a low income, like the fact that the service is free
• The service was also described by some people as quick and easy
• Some people would like to see the service extended to include a wider range of
  treatment
• Some would also like to see more advertising of the service. 55% of respondents had never seen any advertising about the service.
• 69% of respondents would have visited their GP if they hadn’t used the service. Others would have visited a walk-in centre or A&E
• 85% would be either happy or very happy to see a Pharmacist for something which
  currently requires a GP prescription
• 90% would be likely or very likely to recommend the service to friends and family for similar treatment.