What’s your experience of your local pharmacy?

Healthwatch England are shining a spotlight on patients’ experience of pharmacy at the highest level, last month giving evidence to the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee as part of its inquiry into the future of pharmacy services. Every experience we hear as a local Healthwatch is fed back to Healthwatch England, ensuring their valuable work and national concerns echo the experiences of local people using their community pharmacies every day.  

As the voice and champion of local people we’re asking you to keep sharing your experiences of pharmacy – good and bad – here in Surrey. We’ve been hearing how closures and capacity issues are really impacting people in Surrey, but we’d like to know more. We work closely with local pharmacy leaders so your insights really help to shape, improve, and change local services. 

Is your local pharmacy your first point of call, or somewhere you avoid?  

What’s working (and what isn’t) and how could things be improved?  

Healthwatch England are specifically calling for action to address three key areas: 

• Confidence in pharmacy, which is currently being eroded by staff and medication shortages and closures 
• Cultural change to ensure that we’re all aware and accepting of what pharmacy can offer  
• Cost of living pressures, affecting people’s ability to afford prescription and over-the-counter medication, and the need for greater awareness of money-saving options and the need to address inequalities 

We think these three ‘C’s’ are important here in Surrey too, do you?  

We look forward to hearing from you!