Patients urged to order repeat prescriptions before Easter

People across Sussex are being reminded to stock up on their medicines before the Easter bank holidays.
The NHS is urging people to order repeat prescriptions ahead of the Easter weekendThe NHS is urging people to order repeat prescriptions ahead of the Easter weekend
The NHS is urging people to order repeat prescriptions ahead of the Easter weekend

The advice comes during a major public health campaign urging people to visit a pharmacist first for minor illness, instead of a GP or A&E.

The NHS is encouraging more people to use their pharmacy first in a move which could help free up GP time for sicker patients and save time for busy families.

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Around 95 per cent of people live within a 20-minute walk of a community pharmacy, making pharmacists easily accessible and a valuable first port of call for minor health concerns such as coughs, colds, tummy troubles or teething.

Around 18 million GP appointments and 2.1 million visits to A&E are for self-treatable conditions – at a cost of more than £850million each year to the NHS.

The call for people, in particular the five million parents of children under five, to use their pharmacist first for advice is part of the NHS Stay Well Pharmacy campaign.

It is backed by pharmacists and Netmums, the UK’s biggest parenting website.

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People can find details of their nearest pharmacy on the NHS Choices website at www.nhs.uk, but are advised to call a pharmacy and double check they are open before they go there over the Easter period.