Asda has launched a campaign to raise awareness of Pharmacy First to help “lighten the load” on GPs and address the confusion about which service patients should use as their first port of call.
A snapshot survey of GPs commissioned by the supermarket found that 75% believe “wider use of Pharmacy First would help reduce waiting times and free up capacity for patients with more complex or urgent needs”.
While the survey only had 75 GP respondents, it highlighted that the majority were in favour of increasing awareness of the service.
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“GPs across the UK are under growing pressure from rising demand for minor illness appointments” with 77% agreeing that “too many appointments are currently used for minor illness”, Asda said.
In an online survey of 2,000 UK adults, the supermarket found that 50% of respondents weren’t aware of the symptoms that can be treated through Pharmacy first.
And 22% admitted to “booking a GP appointment for something a pharmacy could have handled because they didn’t know they had the option”.
“The right choice”
Asda pharmacy explained that it had launched a Pharmacy First awareness campaign – under the “simple, memorable acronym” ISSUE IS – to “tackle this confusion” and help the public “quickly recognise” when visiting a pharmacy is “the right choice”.
The acronym represents the seven conditions patients can be treated for under the Pharmacy First service, the supermarket explained, arguing that “turning clinical guidance into a clear mental shortcut” helps customers not to automatically book a GP appointment.
The survey also highlighted that awareness of the Pharmacy First service at Asda “remains low”, with 49% of respondents saying they “had not heard of it before” and 11% not being able to “name a single condition pharmacists can treat”.
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Asda’s head of pharmacy Faisal Tuddy said that “with more than 230 Asda pharmacies across the UK, ISSUE IS gives customers a memorable way to recognise when Pharmacy First is the right choice, making it easier to see a pharmacist quickly, get treated sooner, and ease unnecessary pressure on GP surgeries.”
And TV doctor Dr Hilary Jones said that “as a GP with patients’ interests at heart”, he is “passionate about telling them that there is a faster and more effective way to have many of their commonest medical conditions treated without the delay and frustration of having to fight for unnecessary GP appointments”.
“Asda’s Pharmacy First approach means huge numbers of people can easily obtain the treatment they need for a host of ailments from highly trained pharmacists without the need for a doctor’s prescription,” he added.
Read more: CPE creates website to encourage patients towards Pharmacy First
It comes as Community Pharmacy England announced the launch of a patient-facing website last month to promote Pharmacy First and other clinical services to the public.
And Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) chief executive Malcolm Harrison urged the NHS in January to “get on with expanding” the Pharmacy First service, arguing that it has only “dipped its toes in the water of pharmacy providing urgent care services”.
Meanwhile, an NHS England (NHS) official acknowledged at the Pharmacy Show in October that the body needs “to do more” to promote Pharmacy First.
