From our Annual Public Meeting held in November 2024, through our public listening survey and other data sources, Healthwatch Walsall completed a priorities list on where the public wanted us to focus our work on for the next 12 months. This was considered at the public Independent Strategic Advisory Board on 25 March 2025.
NHS and social care staff are doing everything they can to keep us well during these challenging times, but there might be things that can be improved for you and your loved ones, both in the area you live in and across the country.
Parents and carers in the Black Country are being reminded to use their local community pharmacy if their child needs help with minor illnesses or ailments.
The NHS Pharmacy First service allows children to access treatment for five common conditions from
their local pharmacy, without needing a GP appointment.
The aim is to make it easier for people to get the help they need and free up millions of GP
appointments.
Through the Pharmacy First service, children can receive NHS treatment, including antibiotics where
appropriate, for five common conditions including:
• impetigo (aged 1 year and over)
• infected insect bites (aged 1 year and over)
• earache (aged 1 to 17 years)
• sore throat (aged 5 years and over)
• sinusitis (aged 12 years and over).
Parents can simply walk into a participating pharmacy and request a consultation for their child. If further
treatment is needed, pharmacy teams will signpost families to the most appropriate local health service.
Sukhy Somal, Head of Community Pharmacy Clinical Services, NHS Black Country Integrated Care
Board (ICB), said: “The Black Country ICB is one of the top referrers into the Pharmacy First service.
“As summer begins, we are encouraging parents and carers to think Pharmacy First if their child is
unwell, allowing them to be seen quickly and conveniently at their local pharmacy.
“The scheme enables community pharmacists, who are trained health professionals, to supply
prescription-only medicines, where clinically appropriate, to treat five health conditions for children which
would previously have required a GP appointment.”
The Pharmacy First scheme is also available for adults and covers the following seven common conditions:
• sinusitis (adults and children aged 12 years and over)
• sore throat (adults and children aged 5 years and over)
• earache (children and young adults aged 1 to 17 years)
• infected insect bite (adults and children aged 1 year and over)
impetigo (adults and children aged 1 year and over)
• shingles (adults aged 18 years and over)
• uncomplicated urinary tract infection (women aged 16 to 64 years).
The NHS has created a local social media campaign to encourage people to use this service. You can
view this on the NHS Black Country ICB social media channels.
This survey is about the knowledge and experiences of people from ethnic minority communities in Walsall accessing and using mental health services in primary care.
Your feedback will be anonymised. Your information is important to us and we need to ensure that it is used appropriately and stored securely.
We have just published our Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment report, which contains what people have told us about using pharmacy services and the Pharmacy First programme.
