To save you time in making an appointment with your GP, simply to get a prescription for any minor illness or ailment listed below. Anyone (including children), who don’t pay prescription charges, can now go to their pharmacist for advice and get medicine on the NHS free of charge.

Who is the service for?

You can use the NHS Minor Ailment Service if:

• you are registered with a GP surgery, and
• you don’t pay for your prescriptions, and
• you don’t live in a nursing or residential care home.

How does it work?

You register for the service with the community pharmacy of your choice.

You don’t have to make an appointment. You can go along at a time that suits you.

Your consultation will always be with a qualified pharmacist.

If your pharmacist thinks that you need a medicine or product to treat your symptoms they will give you this without you needing to pay.

You will still have to go to your GP if: Your pharmacist suggests you should, or you need medication that you can only get on prescription from your GP.

What does the service offer?

You will be able to get advice and free treatment from your community pharmacist for minor illnesses and ailments such as:

• acne
• athlete’s foot
• back ache
• cold sores
• constipation
• cough
• diarrhoea
• ear ache
• eczema and allergies
• haemorrhoids (piles)
• hay fever
• headache
• head lice
• indigestion  mouth ulcers
• nasal congestion
• pain
• period pain
• thrush
• sore throat
• threadworms
• warts and verrucae