Ask your pharmacist!

PEOPLE in Leicester are being reminded to ask their pharmacist for health advice this winter. NHS Leicester City is encouraging patients in the city to use their community pharmacy for treatment or advice on a range of common conditions. For many minor medical problems you can get help from a pharmacist instead of visiting your GP and you don’t need an appointment.

The message coincides with the National Pharmacy Association’s Ask Your Pharmacist Week which runs until Saturday, November 14.

Pharmacist Dalbir Nagra from Brookvale Pharmacy in Knighton, Leicester, said: “Pharmacists in Leicester provide a wide range of services to patients. This includes reviewing your medication, helping patients to stop smoking, offering the flu vaccine and providing sexual health information. Your pharmacist can also offer a number of health checks including assessing your risk of cardiovascular disease.

“Your pharmacist can check your symptoms and assess the need for medication. We aim to help you there and then but if necessary we can also direct you to your GP or another health professional.”

Lesley Gant, senior pharmacist for NHS Leicester City, said: “This week is about reminding patients that instead of waiting to see a GP to diagnose common conditions like colds, head lice or diarrhoea, you can go straight to your local pharmacist for help.

“In Leicester we run a minor ailment scheme which allows patients exempt from prescription charges to access advice and, if appropriate, medicines from a participating pharmacy, free of charge.

“Patients often think they have to see a doctor, but NHS Leicester City is hoping people will realise there is often another, more direct route for treatment.”

For further information visit www.askyourpharmacist.co.uk To find your nearest pharmacy please contact NHS Leicester City’s Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) on 0116 295 7011.

For interviews, photographs or more information please contact press officer Liz Mattock on 0116 295 4123 or liz.mattock@leicestercity.nhs.uk

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