By Sarah.G

In this article, we are going to answer the following questions:

• What is Pharmacyfirst?
• Where to go?
• What does Pharmacyfirst treat?

By the end, you might question whether or not your medical issue needs to be looked at by one of our clinicians, or maybe going to use this service would work just as great.

What is Pharmacyfirst?

Pharmacyfirst is a service that started at the end of January 2024. This allows community pharmacists to help patients with certain different types of minor illnesses before they worsen. Since Pharmacyfirst has started, this service has freed up doctors appointments, allowing patients to see their GP for more severe conditions (please know these are not emergencies that need to be seen by a clinician in a hospital).

When patients go to visit their pharmacy to use this service, they will have a consultation and they will treat the patient and prescribe medication if needed. If anything is urgent, they will inform you to see your doctor.

Where to go?

Since this service started at the beginning of this year, more pharmacies have opted into being part of Pharmacyfirst. 

In Letchworth Garden City, you can now go to the following pharmacies:

• Letchworth Pharmacy
• Jackmans Pharmacy 
• Globe Pharmacy
• Superdrug
• Boots
• Morrisons 

Do take on board that you don’t necessarily have to go to your pharmacy. For example, if your nominated pharmacy is Jackmans you can still go to the Letchworth Pharmacy and they will be able to help and advise you. 

What does Pharmacyfirst treat?

As mentioned, Pharmacyfirst helps patients with common health issues before they worsen, but what are these conditions that they can help with. 

Please find below a table explaining what conditions the pharmacy can treat without needing a doctor’s appointment.

As you can see, sometimes a patient may not fit in one of these age ranges. If this is you, pharmacists can offer advice about certain over the counter medication, but if you need anything stronger you will most likely need an appointment from your surgery.

We hope this article has been informative. If you have any queries about this service, please do not hesitate to ask and we will help as much as possible. 

Next time you feel that you are suffering with one of these conditions, do think about PharmacyFirst before contacting your local GP surgery.