Patients “love” Lloydspharmacy’s free minor injury service in hospitals, but shun it when they are expected to pay in community pharmacies, the multiple has found.

Lloydspharmacy clinical and professional standards manager Sanjeev Kaushal said almost 500 patients had used the free A&E service, which was introduced into North Manchester General Hospital in November 2014.

But Mr Kaushal said "very few" were willing to pay a £5 fee to benefit from the same service in one of its pharmacy-based First Care Clinics, piloted in three of its Midlands branches in 2013, where pharmacists and technicians treat injuries including cuts, burns, scalds and grazes.

The multiple introduced the fee to cover the cost of equipment and training, and was "surprised" to find that "patients didn't want to pay", he told delegates at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society conference last Sunday (September 13). This "barrier" was even seen among patients referred to the pharmacies by the NHS 111 service, who refused to attend if they knew they had to pay, Mr Kaushal said.

These patients will “happily” travel "up to 20 minutes" to a pharmacy if they know the care is free, he added. 

The multiple is "very happy" with the reduced waiting times that its pharmacist has produced in the A&E pilot, Mr Kaushal said. 

The pharmacist – who works alongside a technician and a healthcare assistant – has been "accepted as a member of the A&E department", and their "astounding" workload was equivalent to that of two junior A&E doctors, he claimed.

Not a single A&E patient had refused to be treated by the pharmacist, which Mr Kaushal said is "absolutely fantastic".
 

Are you surprised that patients are unwilling to pay for a minor injuries service?

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