Almost anyone can go to their local pharmacy
for advice and treatment if necessary. Children aged between 0-16 years can
visit their local pharmacy if they are accompanied by their parent or guardian
and also get advice and treatment. The pharmacists at your local pharmacy use
their clinical expertise along with practical knowledge to ensure a safe supply
of medicines to patients and also ensure that dispensed medicines are used
safely and in the correct manner. As well as dispensing services your local
pharmacy can offer you general information on health care and expert advice and
information on a lot of common ailments like coughs and colds, stomach upsets,
minor eye infections and hay-fever to name but a few.
You can visit your local pharmacy without a
prescription or a visit to your GP and under the Minor Ailment Service and
pharmacist can help with the following conditions:
- Head Lice
- Earache
- Eczema and Allergies
- Hay fever
- Sore Throat
- Thread worms
- Warts and Verrucas
You can use the Minor Ailment Service if you are registered
with a GP surgery in Scotland, and you are under 16 or under 19 and in
full-time education; you are 60 or over; You have a valid maternity exemption
certificate, medical exemption certificate, or war pension exemption
certificate; you get Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance,
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, or Pension Credit Guarantee
Credit, or you are named on, or entitled to, an NHS tax credit exemption
certificate or a valid HC2 certificate. You can find out more about this
service by visiting your local pharmacy. By using this service you make your
local pharmacy your first point of call for advice and free treatment rather
than your GP. In many cases you do not even need to make an appointment and can
visit at a time that suits you.
Many local pharmacies now offer and out of hours
service. This means that they have extended opening hours, on-call services and
rota services. If you are looking for a chemist open on Sunday you are now able to do this due
to this out of hour’s service. There is now a rota of duty chemists in each
area of the country who open their pharmacy out of normal opening hours to
allow prescription medicine to be dispensed.
