PHARMACIES are being given a bigger role in health care to provide easier access to services in the community and to free-up GPs for more serious illnesses.
All registered patients of western Cheshire general practices will be able to get treatment for minor ailments at their local pharmacy from July 15.
Western Cheshire Primary Care Trust (WCPCT) will be publicising participating pharmacies who must be accredited by the PCT.
Minor ailments included in the scheme are: head lice, sore throats, coughs, colds, flu, pain, fever, worms, vaginal thrush, diarrhoea, vomiting, superficial eye infections, simple urinary tract infections in women and oral thrush in infants.
If patients do not usually have to pay prescription charges, the items available on the minor ailments scheme will continue to be free of charge.
Those who are not exempt from charges will either pay the cost of the medicine or the prescription charge, whichever is the lower.
Helen Bellairs, chief executive of WCPCT, said: “The pharmacist is capable of dealing with minor cases. It’s a way of freeing up the doctor for other things.”
