A pharmacist is another health expert you can turn to for asthma advice and support and you usually don't need an appointment. As well as your GP or asthma nurse, your local pharmacist is another highly trained healthcare professional who can answer questions about your asthma. If you have any concerns about your asthma, you can just walk into our pharmacy and ask to see the pharmacist.

This is useful because:

• you don't need an appointment
• our pharmacy are open outside GP surgery hours
• our pharmacy have a private consultation room
• you can ask about free prescription collection services, peak flow checks, stop smoking and losing weight advice.

Ask the pharmacist how to get the best from your asthma medicines. You can ask your pharmacist about the asthma medicines you've been prescribed. This is useful if you have concerns about things like side effects, using your inhaler, or your inhaler not working properly.
You can also ask about any over-the-counter medicines you're taking to help your asthma, such as anti-histamines for hay fever.

Check your blood pressure

The only way of knowing whether you have high blood pressure is to have a blood pressure test.

All adults over 40 are advised to have their blood pressure checked at least every 5 years. Getting this done is easy and could save your life.

You can get your blood pressure tested at a number of places, including at our pharmacies. If you've not been diagnosed with high blood pressure and would like to get yours checked, contact or visit one of our branches. 

If we find any potential signs of high blood pressure, we will refer you to your GP for further investigation and treatment if appropriate.

If you have had sex without using contraception, or you think your contraception has failed, you may be able to use Emergency Hormonal Contraception (EHC). Every consultation is private and confidential and will be in a private consultation room. Our fully trained and accredited Pharmacist will supply EHC when appropriate to clients in line with the requirements of a locally agreed Patient Group Direction (PGD).

The PGD will specify the age range of clients that are eligible for the service; it may facilitate supply to young persons under 16 in appropriate circumstances. We will also provide support and advice to clients accessing the service, including advice on the avoidance of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STI’s) through safer sex and condom use, advice on the use of regular contraceptive methods and provide onward signposting to services that provide long-term contraceptive methods and diagnosis and management of STI’s. * Only available if commissioned in accordance with a local agreement.

This is an opportunity for our pharmacist to discuss and review the medicines you are taking to ensure you are using them correctly and getting the maximum benefit. We will explain clearly and simply, without any medical jargon, what they are for and the conditions they treat and identify any possible side effects that you may be experiencing. We will listen to you and any problems you are having with your medicines, provide advice and support and if necessary contact your Doctor to discuss any issues that arise from our conversation.

An MUR can help:

• improve your understanding of the medicines you are taking;
• highlight problematic side effects and propose solutions where appropriate;
• improve adherence
• reduce medicines wastage, usually by helping you only order the medicines you need

Our pharmacist may be able to conduct an MUR over the telephone or for eligible patient

When you are prescribed a new medicine by your doctor our pharmacists can offer support and advice to ensure you take the new medication as prescribed without suffering any unwanted side effects or explain any further questions you may have. We usually do this by keeping in contact with you during the first 4 weeks of your new medicine being prescribed.

The service is only available for people living in England, and only for those who have been prescribed a new medicine for the conditions listed:

• asthma
• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• type 2 diabetes 
• high blood pressure
• people who have been given a new blood-thinning medicine

The NMS can help:

• improve your adherence (taking your medicines correctly) which will generally lead to better health outcomes
• increase your engagement with your condition and medicines, supporting you to make decisions about your treatment and self-management
• reduce medicines wastage
• reduce hospital admissions due to adverse events from medicines

We can provide a supervised consumption service, usually in the private consultation room in the pharmacy.