What you told us about your local pharmacy services
Last November, Healthwasked asked 1,650 people to share their experiences of pharmacy services in England.
Community pharmacies are very widely used in England, with 72% of people telling us they used one in the past three months. 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.
Pharmacies are one of our easiest health services to access, providing free information and advice to millions every year. In North Yorkshire alone, they dispense around 1.25 million items every month. And with the introduction of Pharmacy First at 95% of pharmacies across the region, where people can get treatment for seven common conditions at their high street pharmacy without needing to see a GP, it's easy to see why pharmacies are one of the four pillars of primary care services alongside GPs, dentistry and eye care.
Read more about Pharmacy First - and how it can help you
But people also shared challenges to getting the most out of their pharmacy care experience. There are supply shortages on some medicines, pharmacies have closed, and rising prices prevent people from getting an NHS prescription or over-the-counter medication because they can't afford it.
Below, Lynn, Ian and Dawn's stories show how worsening pharmacy services are affecting people's health and care.
"There is a lack of medication available in my pharmacy."
Lynn from Richmondshire
Lynn, lives in Richmondshire told us how the distance, lack of availability and doubling of cost made it difficult for her.
"There is a lack of medication available in my pharmacy. I recently needed 80mg heparin, which is used to decrease the clotting ability of the blood and help prevent harmful clots from forming in blood vessels. This was because my international normalised ratio, the blood test that tells you how long it takes for your blood to clot, was low. I couldn't get this at any of our pharmacies," Lynne explained.
"I am in a very rural area so had to travel a 20 mile radius. In the end, the pharmacist at my GP surgery managed to find a box of 40mg near by."
She continued: "This meant that I not only had to inject myself twice each time, but the cost was doubled. The pharmacies apparently don't stock it routinely because it is so expensive. Do you think that not stocking products because of cost is a false economy?"
"I asked the pharmacist if when he inputted my details. My prescribed medications or allergies were not there."
Ian from Skipton
Ian highlighted the issue when communication and accurately recording a patient's information falls down.
"Today I was directed to a pharmacy as I felt I needed an antibiotic for infected cattarh (a build-up of mucus (phlegm) in your airways). I saw a pharmacist and he was just about to prescribe something I was already taking (a steroid nasal spray) as first treatment advised.
"I asked the pharmacist if when he inputted my details. My prescribed medications or allergies were not there. This new innovation from the government has not been thought through and very risky. I would have thought the pharmacist would routinely need this information. It's a very risky practice."
"My issue is with my local pharmacy not having medications ready."
Dawn from Skipton
Dawn told Healthwatch North Yorkshire about repeat visits due to things not being ready
"My issue is with my local pharmacy not having medications ready. Every time I go to collect my prescriptions from my local pharmacy - at least one of the medications is not ready. This means that on average I have to make three visits and not one."
