The National Pharmacy Association is backing the NHS Choose Well Summer Campaign, which encourages people to use local pharmacies for summer health advice.
The campaign, launched today (Thursday 12th July), reminds people that A&E, emergency and 999 services are for serious and life threatening concerns only. It also highlights that visiting the GP should not be the default setting for treatment of self limiting illness – instead many such problems can be treated by advice and over the counter remedies available in community pharmacies.
An NHS Choose Well survey into why people often head unnecessarily to the doctor is available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N8WQVTV . The NPA’s Ask Your Pharmacist website signposts to the survey.
The NPA is also making a stock of its Come First to Pharmacy leaflets available to NHS Communications teams for the duration of the summer campaign.
Mike Holden, NPA chief executive and member of the National Self Care Forum said:
“We are pleased to support this important initiative. Getting the message through about appropriate use of health care resources is good for the NHS but also good for patients who can access treatment and support more conveniently than they may think.”
The Choose Well survey runs until 30 July.
