What Your Pharmacist Can Treat Without a GP Appointment

Every week, someone tells us they have been waiting a fortnight for a GP appointment.

Sometimes that is exactly right. Some things need a doctor.

And sometimes we could have sorted it that morning, for free, without an appointment, and they simply did not know that was an option.

What NHS Pharmacy First Scotland actually is

It is an NHS service available at every community pharmacy in Scotland, including ours. You do not need to be referred. You do not need to book. You do not pay for the consultation, and if you are exempt from prescription charges, you do not pay for the medicine either.

You walk in and ask to speak to the pharmacist. That is the whole process.

What we can help with

The service covers a lot of the everyday things that send people to a GP:

• Sore throats, coughs, colds and earache
• Urinary tract infections in women aged 16 to 65
• Skin conditions including impetigo, acne and fungal infections
• Shingles, where treating early genuinely matters
• Hay fever, allergies and eye infections
• Thrush, cold sores, constipation and hundreds of other minor conditions

Where treatment needs a prescription-only medicine, we can often supply it directly under the service. That is the part that surprises people most.

What we cannot do

We will not pretend otherwise, and knowing the limits is part of using the service well.

We cannot treat children under 16 for some conditions, we cannot manage long-term conditions this way, and anything that needs an examination we are not set up for goes to your GP or, if it is serious, to A and E.

Part of our job is telling you when you need someone else. We do that a lot, and we would rather see you and send you on than have you wait at home.

What it is like

You ask at the counter. We take you somewhere private, because nobody wants to describe their symptoms in a queue. We ask questions, check the relevant guidance, and either treat you, recommend something from the shelf, or point you to the right service.

Most consultations take about ten minutes.

Why we keep going on about it

Because it works, and because it is underused.

A UTI treated on Monday morning is a different experience from a UTI treated on Thursday afternoon. Shingles treated within 72 hours is a different illness from shingles treated in week two.

The barrier is almost never clinical. It is that people do not know they can just ask.

So: you can just ask. See the NHS Services for the full picture, or come in and speak to us. We are here seven days a week.