\n In Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, nearly 87,000 consultations were carried out through the Pharmacy First scheme between April and July 2026, up from 61,000 in the same period last year.\n<\/p>\n
\n Pharmacy First allows people to receive advice and treatment for common health conditions directly from a community pharmacist without needing to see a GP.\n<\/p>\n
\n More patients choosing community pharmacies as their first port of call for minor health concerns. (Image: NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight)\n<\/p>\n
\n James Roach, director of neighbourhood health at NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight, said: “It\u2019s great to see so many people getting the same day care they need for minor health concerns from our brilliant local pharmacies.\n<\/p>\n
\n “This is particularly important as we enter winter, when coughs, colds and other seasonal illnesses increase and demand rises across local NHS services.\n<\/p>\n
\n “By making pharmacy the first port of call for minor health concerns, patients can get help quickly while GP practices, urgent treatment centres and hospitals can focus on people with more complex or urgent needs.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The scheme currently covers seven conditions, including shingles, sore throat, infected insect bites, earache, sinusitis, impetigo and uncomplicated urinary tract infection.\n<\/p>\n
\n Plans are in place to expand the scheme to include five additional conditions from late autumn 2026.\n<\/p>\n
\n These will be low-frequency episodic migraine, seasonal allergic rhinitis for children, acute otitis externa – an infection of the outer ear, mild to moderate acne, and mild skin and soft-tissue infections, including scabies.\n<\/p>\n
\n More patients choosing community pharmacies as their first port of call for minor health concerns. (Image: NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight)\n<\/p>\n
\n The expanded service will be available in community pharmacies with trained pharmacist prescribers.\n<\/p>\n
\n Neil Hardy, chief pharmacist at NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight, said: “Pharmacists are medicines experts and highly skilled clinicians who are well placed to assess and treat many common health conditions.\n<\/p>\n
\n “A community pharmacy is often easy to reach, and many pharmacies offer walk-in access, so patients can receive trusted advice without needing to wait for an appointment elsewhere.\n<\/p>\n
\n “The expansion of Pharmacy First will allow qualified pharmacist prescribers to use more of their clinical expertise.\n<\/p>\n
\n “This is an important step in making pharmacy the natural first port of call for a wider range of everyday health concerns.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Pharmacy First is part of a wider shift towards neighbourhood health services, aiming to deliver more care within local communities.\n<\/p>\n
\n Patients can use the service without a referral, simply by approaching a participating pharmacy.\n<\/p>\n
\n Eligible patients can also be referred by GP practices or NHS 111.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, nearly 87,000 consultations were carried out through the Pharmacy First scheme…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":782355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-782354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}