5 services to ask for at your local pharmacy

Many of us don’t realise the full capacity of our local pharmacies and some of the unique services they offer. Your own local pharmacy might offer a number of different services designed to make your medical experience that little bit easier. For example, you could take advantage of... Medical and repeat prescriptionsr Perhaps one of the most common reasons why people visit a pharmacy is to purchase theirmedical prescriptions. However, it’s often the case that many customers require long-term, repeat prescriptions that they want to be able to acquire simply and without making another appointment. Watch out for a pharmacy offering a repeat prescription service that can be provided online or by phone, enabling customers to come and collect their repeat prescriptions without waiting, or have their prescriptions delivered to their home or location of choice. Disposal of out-of-date medicine Across our long lives, it’s unknown how many medicines and ailments we consume. As more and more medicines enter the market, many of us are building up quite a cabinet of unused medicine. Once your medicine goes out of date, bring it into a pharmacy so that the staff can dispose of it safely and in an environmentally beneficial way. Flushing your out-of-date medicine down the toilet or sink can be extremely detrimental to the environment because of the amount of chemicals that exist within treatments. Although these things may not be dangerous for us humans, they can cause irreversible effects to our local wildlife and natural habitats. Needle exchange Lawsat Pharm values the health and wellbeing of every single one of its customers, and is dedicated to helping their recovery. We offer a non-judgemental needle exchange service where people who inject intravenous drugs can obtain clean and sterile needles and safely discard their used needles. This service goes a long way in helping to reduce the transmission of HIV and hepatitis B and C while also providing users with invaluable information surrounding safe drug use and helping them through their recovery programmes and rehabilitation. Smoking cessation servicesr Due to successful anti-smoking campaigns as well as an increased public awareness surrounding the harmful diseases that smoking causes, your pharmacy could offer a selection of smoking cessation services designed to offer support and services to help smokers quit their habit. Whether they involve providing nicotine patches, other treatments or a little bit of advice and support surrounding the best ways to quit, smoking cessation services are available at a number of different pharmacies around the UK. Advice on how to treat minor conditions These days, patients are advised only to book appointments with their GP if it’s absolutely necessary, as your GP might need to treat patients who are much sicker than you. If you’re suffering from a minor illness, there’s no need to book an appointment when you can simply walk into a pharmacy and seek some advice. Pharmacists can be qualified to offer advice surrounding minor illnesses and can determine what medication you need according to the symptoms you’ve outlined. If it seems like you may need an appointment with your GP, then a pharmacist can arrange that for you, too.