Healthwatch England Report - Pharmacy : What People Want

Healthwatch England have recently published their report Pharmacy : What People Want. It's based on 

• A nationally representative poll of 1,650 adults in England, conducted by Yonder Data Solutions from November 20 to November 26, 2023.

• Interviews undertaken by local Healthwatch, including Healthwatch Cornwall. Each one interviewed two pharmacy users and a pharmacy member of staff.

  Drawing on the poll's results and the interviews, the report concludes that:

• Community pharmacies are very widely used, with 72% of people having used one in the past three months. 
• Online pharmacies are much less used, with 18% using one in the past three months. 54% of people who have used an online pharmacy at some point said they would be likely to do so again. 
• People value the accessibility of community pharmacies, both in terms of the ease of getting to one and the speed of being seen once there. 
• There are positive signs for the success of Pharmacy First. People were already open to the idea of going to a pharmacy rather than a GP for the seven conditions before the service was launched and are open to the idea of seeing a pharmacist rather than a GP more generally. 
• Pharmacy First faces some challenges. A small proportion of the population is less open to going to a pharmacy rather than a GP. This is due to their personal preference, while in some cases, due to a lack of awareness of the services pharmacies offer.   
  More broadly, medicines shortages continue to affect patients. Almost one in four, 24%, have experienced shortages when trying to get medicine, and 42% have experienced problems getting medicine in general. This has led to patients having to play ‘pharmacy bingo’, going from one pharmacy to another to find the medication they need.
• Closures are affecting patients access to pharmacy services. As well as pharmacies permanently closing, temporary closures are causing frustration. There is currently little transparency on temporary closures, nor information given to local residents when temporary closures occur. 
• Although 90% of prescriptions in England are dispensed free of charge, the cost-of-living crisis impacts pharmacy usage, with five per cent of people saying they have avoided taking up one or more NHS prescriptions because of the price.