22 May 2015: Pharmacy minor ailment services have hit the headlines recently, courtesy of a post on Facebook claiming that all parents can get free Calpol via their local scheme. The post was shared over 100,000 times and sparked the interest of many parents and several national and regional media outlets.
This provided the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) with the opportunity to talk about the role of the minor ailment service, who is entitled to free treatment and why.
The Society wor
ked with BBC Health Online to correct the misinformation circulating. In addition, RPS England board member Sultan “Sid” Dajani spoke to 15 BBC regional radio stations discussing the service. He said: “The RPS believes that this should be a nationa
lly commissioned service… up to 650,000 vi
sits to A&E and up to 50 million visits a year to GP surgeries can be dealt with quicker and just as efficiently and cheaper through pharmacies.”