Patients more aware of pharmacy services but using them less, survey suggests
Awareness of all pharmacy services had increased since 2007 according to the Department of Health (DH) commissioned survey, but pharmacy experts warned the government still needed to do more to make best use of the sector.
"There are some mixed messages [from the survey]," said AAH. "Ninety-one per cent [of respondents] stated that they knew pharmacies offer advice on treating problems and symptoms of long-term conditions, but 40 per cent said that they did not know pharmacies provide medicine reviews," said AAH head of corporate relations James Lindsay.
Only two thirds of the 701 patients questioned knew pharmacists could monitor the symptoms of long-term conditions as well as offering advice. And usage of pharmacy was also slightly down, with three quarters of respondents having visited their pharmacy in the past six months, down from 83 per cent in 2009.
"Clearly more needs to be done to educate the public, particularly as the survey found that two in five adults with long term health conditions had not approached anybody at all for advice on their condition or on self care," Mr Lindsay said. "I hope health ministers will read this report and recognise that if they want to achieve the nation's health goals, they need to make greater use of community pharmacies."
The report is the final part of a three-wave Department of Health study to explore attitudes to self-care, specifically around the treatment of long-term conditions.
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