NHS England and NHS Improvement are launching this year’s Pharmacy Advice Campaign next week.
The nine-week campaign starts on 20 January as part of the wider ‘Help Us, Help You’ campaign.
The campaign encourages the public to ‘take the drama out of minor illnesses’ and use their local pharmacy as the first place to go to for clinical advice on minor health concerns such as coughs, colds, tummy troubles and aches and pains.
This year’s campaign includes on advertisements across television and social media, out-of-home bus shelter advertising, posters and digital assets.
Resources, which include a briefing sheet and two posters, will be sent to community pharmacies with the regular supplies from a Healthcare Distribution Association (HDA) member, while other downloadable materials are available on the Public Health England’s Campaign Resource Centre.
Research shows that 27% of general practice appointments in England could potentially be treated elsewhere and approximately 18 million of these could be treated through self-care and community pharmacies*.This campaign seeks to address this by highlighting to the public the minor health concerns which can be treated by pharmacists.
*Taken from ‘Making Time in General Practice’ report, commissioned by NHS England and published in October 2015.
