What Health and Wellbeing Concerns Can a Pharmacist Help With?

As qualified healthcare professionals, pharmacists can actually provide us with advice, guidance and solutions to many more health and wellbeing problems than we may realise.

Along with answering questions about existing prescriptions and supplying us with over-the-counter medicines for a variety of minor ailments, there are a multitude of reasons for you to trust your local pharmacist, and in many instances, a multitude of reasons for visiting them instead of our local GP, as we so often automatically do.

Could your GP appointment be taken care of at a pharmacy?

Did you know that as many as 1 in 4 GP appointments in the UK today could be handled by a pharmacist at your local chemist? And even if you have symptoms of a more serious condition, a qualified pharmacist can advise you as to whether you should see a doctor, nurse or specialist. This advice can also be sought from private clinics, such as those that are often set up by online pharmacies to help people get diagnosed quickly and accurately.

What’s even better is that many pharmacies are open until much later in the evening than your local GPs surgery, and appointments aren’t needed, making them much more convenient for many of us.

What health and wellbeing concerns can a pharmacist at a private clinic prescribe you medicine for?

Qualified to recommend a range of over-the-counter and pharmacy-only medicines, pharmacists in private clinics can help us get treatment for the following health concerns, and more:

• Coughs, colds and sore throats
• Stomach problems
• General aches and pains
• Rashes
• Eye infections
• Hayfever
• Cystitis
• Head lice
• Thrush
• Bites and stings
• Warts and verruca’s

You may even find that some private clinics offer minor ailments services, in which they can supply you with medication for certain condition on the NHS.

Can a pharmacist at a private clinic diagnose you?

While a further assessment from a GP or other health professional may be required, in many instances, pharmacists at private clinics are able to successfully diagnose patients with a variety of health conditions, and offer them over-the-counter pharmacy medicines where necessary.

Can a pharmacist give injections?

Many private clinics and pharmacies provide patients with a wide range of vaccination services, including travel and others. Many also offer flu vaccinations during the winter months.

What else can a pharmacist help you with?

You might be surprised to learn that a pharmacist at a private clinic has the qualifications and training to help you with other health related things, too, such as:

• Advice for existing prescriptions

While not able to issue a prescription for you, they can manage repeat ones given by a GP and answer questions related to it. if you start taking a new medication for a conditions like asthma or diabetes, they can give you plenty of support.

• Help with quitting smoking

A pharmacist at a private clinic can help you monitor your progress if you decide to try and stop smoking, and offer tips and motivational support.

• Travel health advice

You can often discuss a variety of travel destinations with a pharmacist to ensure that you have the right vaccinations and take any other recommended precautions before travel.

• Health and wellbeing advice

With the help of blood pressure checks and diabetes assessments for example, your local pharmacist can help support your health and wellbeing.

All in all, pharmacists can be immensely helpful in a variety of circumstances, and while they are no substitute for a GP when it comes to diagnosing and treating serious conditions, they can certainly be relied upon to give sound advice and guidance for a huge range of minor ailments.

Got a medical query but can’t get to your GP? Why not drop into a private clinic or local pharmacy instead?