Your experiences of using pharmacy services
In July 2024, the three Healthwatch teams in Sussex sought your experiences of using pharmacy services. Read the results.
This was due to the recent expansion in services provided by pharmacies and the launch of ‘Pharmacy First’ in January 2024 which you can read more about here
483 people from across Sussex shared their views with us. We heard:
- Many respondents were aware of the new services offered by pharmacies. For example, over 50% of respondents knew they could get a flu vaccine and a blood pressure check at a pharmacy and access support for sore throats and earaches.
- Uptake of new pharmacy services by respondents was generally lower than their levels of awareness, ranging from 2-12% with flu vaccinations the highest at 28%.
- If respondents had not used the services offered by pharmacies, the majority would go to either a GP (82%) or a nurse at their local surgery (38%) instead. Nearly a third (30%) would also use 111 services.
- Respondents were generally very satisfied with the services offered by pharmacies.
- However, 62% of respondents had been affected by a lack of available medication in pharmacies and 28% by pharmacy opening hours.
Respondents told us that they want to see more convenient opening times, more staff, quicker prescription turnaround and better relationships between pharmacies and GPs.
What did people from Brighton and Hove say
- 69% of Brighton residents knew they could get a flu vaccine at a pharmacist whilst 57% were aware of blood pressure checks. 61.5% were aware of access support for sore throats and 52% for earaches. In addition, 51% were aware that infected insect bites could be treated by a pharmacist.
- Uptake of new pharmacy services by residents of Brighton and Hove was also generally low. Use of some pharmacy services ranged from 0-9%. However, 27% of respondents had used blood pressure check services and 55% had used flu vaccination services.
- For Brighton residents, the numbers saying they would use NHS111 services rather than going to a pharmacy was higher than the Sussex average, at 37%.
- Brighton residents were also generally very satisfied with the services offered by pharmacies.
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However, 73% of Brighton residents had been affected by a lack of available medication in pharmacies and 34% by pharmacy opening hours - both these levels were higher than the Sussex average.
Some comments received included:
- “Shorter lunch break closing times. The pharmacy is always busy so this will create even more work for them so I cant see it is possible to reduce waiting times.”
- "Allow pharmacists to treat a wider range of conditions including being able to prescribe antibiotics
- "Consultation rooms aren't private. They're often located by the tills and you can hear conversations. They also seem to be used for storage"
- "They need to advertise all of the services they offer as most are unknown by the public."
- "None - happy with my pharmacy overall, although queues are sometimes quite lengthy"
- Better coordination with hospital and surgery"
- None. My pharmacy liaises very well with my GP practice."
- "Within walking distance (&/or single bus ride) & co-located with shopping/banking hub with opening hours 07-22hrs!
- "Rottingdean Pharmacy has recently closed down out of the blue and I now have to go to Woodingdean and get two buses or Peacehaven. What has happened to local services? This isn't right and what happens to people with mobility issues?"
