'˜See your pharmacist for minor ailments, NOT your GP', top doc urges

People need to stop visiting their doctor with minor illnesses or injuries, a top Fylde coast doctor said.
Dr Tony Naughton said pharmacists can handle a range of illnesses and injuriesDr Tony Naughton said pharmacists can handle a range of illnesses and injuries
Dr Tony Naughton said pharmacists can handle a range of illnesses and injuries

Dr Tony Naughton said pharmacists should be visited instead, describing them as ‘hugely educated, vastly knowledgeable, and highly skilled’ medics.

“Yet they are still massively under-used,” he said. “Your local pharmacist is very well equipped to deal with a high percentage of issues presented to your local GP.

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“But because of the way we have been brought up in this country throughout the past six decades, we all know that if we have something wrong with us, that isn’t too serious, we must book an appointment with our doctor. We need to change that.”

Dr Naughton, a GP at The Thornton Practice and clinical chief officer at Fylde and Wyre Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which organises and pays for residents’ healthcare, added: “The team here has recently developed a new service called Pharmacy+ clinics. This means that, for a large range of minor ailments, pharmacists taking part in the scheme can quickly provide a consultation – in a private room where necessary, provide over-the-counter medicine, and give advice.”

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