We wanted to get out and about to talk to people in Bucks and find out what they knew about the services offered by their community pharmacy (sometimes called a chemist or high-street pharmacy).
What we did
We visited 11 locations and events across the county during the first two weeks of July 2017. Our staff team and volunteers invited people to complete a questionnaire about community pharmacy. We also made the questionnaire available online.
Why?
One of our priorities for 2017/18 is ‘prevention and primary care’. Community pharmacy is a key part of the NHS primary care system but we receive little patient feedback about the services it provides. We wanted to increase awareness of the services that are available to help reduce the burden on other parts of the healthcare system and to find out resident’s views on them.
What will we do?
- We will send our findings to the Health and Wellbeing Board, the commissioners of
pharmaceutical services and public health services (Buckinghamshire County Council, NHS England and the Clinical Commissioning Group) and the Buckinghamshire Local
Pharmaceutical Committee - We will publicise other organisations’ work to promote the range of services offered by
pharmacies to make sure people know where to get the help they need - We will encourage everyone to comment on the draft Buckinghamshire Pharmaceutical
Needs Assessment (PNA) that is currently out for public consultation. The PNA maps the
provision of pharmaceutical services across the county and identifies any gaps
What can you do?
We’re always looking for feedback. You can share your experience using pharmacies on our website – just search the one you normally use below to rate and review
Downloads
Making the most of your pharmacy: a Healthwatch Bucks Streetview Project
Appendix 1
Appendix 2