Women across south west London are set to get the contraceptive pill at their local pharmacy in the coming months as part of a major expansion of primary care services.
Local pharmacies will begin offering the new contraceptive service in December, meaning thousands of women in south west London will be able to access the pill next year without needing to contact their GP first.
The roll-out is happening across the country and is part of the NHS and government’s primary care access recovery plan, which committed to making it quicker and easier for millions of people to access healthcare on their high street.
Our pharmacy teams provide high-quality, essential care to their local communities day in, day out and now they will be able to do even more for NHS patients.
NHS South West London’s Community Pharmacy Clinical Lead Dina Thakker
Pharmacists will also ramp up the number of life-saving blood pressure checks given to at-risk patients over the next year with a commitment to deliver 2.5 million a year nationally by spring 2025 – up from 900,000 carried out last year. It is estimated this could prevent more than 1,350 heart attacks and strokes in the first year.
Beginning from early next year, patients will also be able to get treatment for seven common conditions directly from a pharmacy, without the need for a GP appointment or prescription. The new service will cover sinusitis, sore throat, earache, infected insect bite, impetigo, shingles, and uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women.
The blueprint aims to free up to 10 million GP appointments nationally a year by next winter and give the public more choice in where and how they access care.
NHS South West London’s Community Pharmacy Clinical Lead Dina Thakker said: “Our pharmacy teams provide high-quality, essential care to their local communities day in, day out and now they will be able to do even more for NHS patients.
“Women across England will welcome the convenience of being able to pop into their local pharmacy when they need or want to access contraception rather than having to make a GP appointment while people will also have new and easy ways of accessing treatments for many common conditions, which also frees up GP appointments.
“Pharmacists are experts in medicines, they’re huge assets to the communities they serve and are never too far away from you – on high streets and local parades. There are nearly 300 pharmacies across south west London alone, with many open until late and at weekends with no booking needed.”
It comes after it was announced that south west Londoners eligible for the Covid-19 seasonal jab will be able to walk into more than 100 pharmacies to get their vaccination.
As more pharmacies begin offering the contraceptive service, the nhs.uk web page will be updated so women can check which pharmacy near to them is offering access to contraception.
More than a hundred pharmacies took part in a contraceptive pilot earlier this year with more than 4,500 women who had already accessed the pill able to receive an ongoing supply of oral contraception at their local pharmacy.