Think Pharmacy First

Advice and treatment

Pharmacists can give you advice on a range of conditions and suggest medicines that can help. They may also be able to offer treatment and some prescription medicine for certain conditions, without you needing to see a GP (this is called Pharmacy First).

Conditions they can treat as part of Pharmacy First include:

Click here to fill in an assessment and self-refer online if you have one of these conditions, or you can walk into your local pharmacy.

The pharmacist will offer you advice, treatment, or refer you to a GP or another healthcare professional if needed. Pharmacies will update your GP health record.

(If you are not within these age ranges, a pharmacist can still offer advice, but you may need to see a GP for treatment.)

Non-urgent advice: Please note

On weekends, online self-referral may take longer as the practice is closed and will not review your assessment until we are open. For a quicker response, please walk into your local pharmacy.

Find a Pharmacy: https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/pharmacy/find-a-pharmacy

Emergency Medicines

If the surgery is closed, you can request a limited emergency supply of a medicine you have completely run out of from NHS111 online.

For details on what you can request, please click this link and follow the instructions.

Getting the contraceptive pill without a prescription

You may be able to get the contraceptive pill from a pharmacy if you need to:

  • start the contraceptive pill for the first time
  • take the contraceptive pill again after a break from using it

If you already have a prescription for the contraceptive pill, you can use the
prescription as usual. Or you can get the pill from a pharmacy without a prescription
if you prefer.


Find a pharmacy that offers the contraceptive pill without a prescription

Get a free blood pressure check

You can get a free blood pressure checked at a pharmacy without seeing a GP, if you:

  • are aged 40 or over
  • live in England

You cannot get a free blood pressure check if you:

  • already have high blood pressure
  • have had your blood pressure checked by a healthcare professional in the past 6 months

Some pharmacies offer a free blood pressure check. Click here to find a pharmacy
that offers free blood pressure checks