The provision of a Minor Ailments Service through community pharmacies has the following benefits:
- It encourages the patient's ability to self-treat minor ailments.
- It supports the use of the pharmacy as a first point of call for health advice.
- It allows the pharmacist to make more use of their professional skills.
- It improves patient accessibility to treatment without the need for an appointment.
- It provides an alternative to a GP consultation for patients who don't pay prescription charges and so reduces the number of inappropriate GP consultations for minor ailments, allowing GPs more time with patients who really need them.
- It also benefits other parts of the healthcare service particularly Accident and Emergency Departments and Out-Of-Hours medical services.
Minor ailments currently included in the service are:
- Athletes foot
- Diarrhoea
- Headlice
- Jock itch
- Threadworms
- Vaginal Thrush
View the HSC website for full details of the service and downloadable documentation.
