Exploring public attitude toward using community pharmacy for management minor Ailments

Problem

Demand for healthcare services is increasing due to the number of older people and people with long-term conditions. Increasing the use of community pharmacy (CP) services for minor ailments (MAs) could help relieve pressure on healthcare providers. In the United Kingdom (UK), CPs are recognized as a place for treatment and advice for MAs. Understanding public attitudes toward these services are useful for future planning and development. We aimed to explore public attitudes toward using CP for the management of MAs pre-COVID-19.

Approach

A mixed-methods approach was adopted utilising validated online surveys, and telephone interviews. The survey was distributed through a marketing research company and participants asked to take part in interviews. This research was undertaken between October 2019 and mid-March 2020 (before and during COVID-19). The survey and interview guide were designed to meet the study objectives developed by the researchers. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Ethical approval was obtained for this study.

Findings

208 responses were available for analysis with a response rate of 20%. More than half of the participants were female (59.1%), and the majority of them below 35 years old. 82% of the participants had visited CP at least once within the last six months. Most participants felt that the pharmacist and their team could help with MAs (72% (n =150)). However, the most preferred source of information to manage MAs was personal experience then family or friends. While the NHS111 was the lowest favourable source of advice. Regarding pharmacists’ role in self-care, 85 % of the participants thought that the community pharmacist could provide advice to them to improve their health. The pharmacist prescriber's role in self-care was also recognized by 56% of the participants. Furthermore, 40% thought that the community pharmacist role in self-care could be through referring them to other health care providers 40 %, providing educational material 38%, and signposting them to online material 34%. Twelve participated in semi-structured telephone interviews. Overall these participants were positive about using CP for managing MA, and three main themes emerged from the interviews: 1) Accessibility of community pharmacy, 2) positive perception about CPs and pharmacist, and 3) facilitators and barriers to use CP for managing MA.

Consequences

This study indicates that a significant number of participants are willing to accept the pharmacist’s role in managing MAs. This is useful in informing policymakers and pharmacy professional organisations what is required to further advance the services in the CP. However, the result of this study should be applied with caution due to the small sample size and impact of COVID-19 on services delivered by General Practitioners and CPs.