The Pharmacy First Minor Ailments Service is primarily designed as a “walk in” service so that patients exempt from prescription charges of all ages can access self-care advice for the treatment of minor ailments and, where appropriate, be supplied with over the counter medicines, without the requirement to attend their GP practice for an appointment and prescription.
Non-urgent advice: Rules Of Access:
The scheme is available to patients exempt from prescription charges who are registered with a participating General Practice in Dudley, Sandwell & West Birmingham and Wolverhampton CCG areas.
Visits are limited to six times in a twelve-month period.
The scheme is only for the treatment of a current common ailment and not to restock medicines.
The patient will need to attend the pharmacy personally.
The patient will need to bring their NHS number with them for the scheme to operate.
Conditions that can be treated for under 16’s (U16), over 16’s (O16), or both:
| Acute cough | Acute fever (U16) | Acute Pain/Earache/Headache/Temperature (O16) | Athlete’s foot |
| Bacterial conjunctivitis | Bites, stings and allergies | Cold sores | Colds and ‘flu |
| Constipation | Cystitis (O16) | Diarrhoea | Dry skin/simple eczema (U16) |
| Dermatitis/allergic rashes (U16) | Earache | Earwax | Hay fever |
| Haemorrhoids (O16) | Heartburn/indigestion (O16) | Infant decongestant | Mouth ulcers & teething |
| Nappy rash | Scabies | Sore throats (O16) | Sprains & strains ( O16) |
| Sunburn (U16) | Threadworms | Thrush (oral & vaginal) | Verrucas and warts |
Alternate Options
NHS 111
If you have an urgent health concern you can either use the NHS 111 phone service or access the NHS www web service (https://111.nhs.uk/).
The NHS 111 Online service is completely free, user friendly and available 24/7.
We are keen to help patients improve on self help and hope that the following information will offer some insight into that.
Take a look and see if you can improve your own understanding of your health and well-being! Please encourage others to look here too.
Self-Help
Here is a list of ailments that can be safely self managed. You will see that you can take a look via the hyperlink at the other websites which can offer you further information about managing your condition.
| Back pain NHS | Cold sores NHS |
| Common Cold NHS | Conjunctivitis NHS Information Leaflet |
| Constipation NHS | Cough NHS Information Leaflet |
| Diarrhoea NHS | Dysmenorrhoea (painful periods) NHS |
| Earache NHS | Haemorrhoids NHS |
| Hayfever NHS | Head lice NHS |
| Headache NHS | Heartburn & Indigestion NHS |
| Influenza NHS Information Leaflet | Insect bites NHS |
| Migraine NHS | Nasal congestion NHS |
| Nappy rash NHS | Sore throat NHS Information Leaflet |
| Sinusitis NHS | Sprains and strains NHS |
| Thrush NHS | Warts and Verrucas NHS |
Further Information
- NHS Website: https://www.nhs.uk/
- Healthy Sandwell: https://www.healthysandwell.co.uk/our-services/
- Self-Care Forum: http://www.selfcareforum.org/resources/patient-portal/