A new short film made by the NHS will encourage patients to seek health advice at pharmacies as it warns that A&Es are “busier than ever” this winter.
The film, titled “24 Hours Not In A&E”, was released today (December 4) as part of a campaign “to help people navigate their health concerns and avoid unnecessary visits to A&E departments and GPs”.
It features Abimbola Alaba, a pharmacist at Mitcham Pharmacy, offering advice to a patient presenting with an infected bug bite - and explaining that the condition is one of seven that pharmacists can treat without “needing to see a GP first” as part of the Pharmacy First service.
Alaba was this year shortlisted in the C+D Awards “community pharmacist of the year” category, while his colleague Ayman El Melali was crowned “pharmacy staff member of the year” and Mitcham Pharmacy was shortlisted as “independent pharmacy of the year”.
NHSE told C+D that while the video is not backed by paid advertising, it will appear across social media and YouTube with the hope that people will share it to help spread the message.
“Throwing open more doors”
In a statement also published today, NHSE said that it is “throwing open more doors to care than ever before” after A&E departments saw more than 200,000 attendances last winter “for conditions that could have been dealt with elsewhere” – such as hiccups and ingrown nails.
It added that “Pharmacy First will give patients access to quick, easy support…for seven common conditions including sore throat, sinusitis and earache”.
And “for the first time ever during winter”, pharmacists can also “provide an emergency contraceptive pill and support people who have been newly prescribed antidepressants”, it said.
Read more: Poll: 70% of pharmacies want Pharmacy First booking system
NHSE also revealed that A&Es are “busier than ever before heading into winter”, with 37,000 more attendances in October than in the same month last year.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said that the busy winter for NHS staff “will be made even harder by the British Medical Association’s (BMA) dangerously reckless decision to strike in the run up to Christmas”.
Read more: Comms campaign must ‘clarify’ pharmacies are not ‘replacing’ GPs
He added that the strike will cause “real anxiety for patients and their families at such an important time of the year”.
“We can all do our bit this winter by making sure we only use A&E for genuine accidents and emergencies,” he said.
And GP Dr Ellie Cannon, who appears in the video, said that there “are many far more convenient and quicker ways to handle your health concern” than booking a GP appointment or going to A&E - including by “using community pharmacies for minor illnesses”.
Read more: BMA: ‘No plans at this stage’ for ballot on GP Connect switch-off
It comes as a new poll by C+D revealed that 70% of pharmacies would like patients to be able to pre-book Pharmacy First appointments, while 13% of respondents already offer the option at their pharmacy.
And it follows Community Pharmacy England (CPE) stating in November that there is “public appetite” for accessing a “wider range of services” in pharmacies, but that a campaign must “clarify” they are not “replacing” GP services.
