NHS Services
Pharmacy First
Everyday Health Conditions
Pharmacy First enables McDonalds Pharmacy patients to have a private consultation with a pharmacist and, where appropriate, receive advice and treatment for a range of common health conditions.
Our pharmacy team are trained to provide advice and, where appropriate, treatment through Pharmacy First services including Sore Throat, Urinary Tract Infection and Everyday Health Conditions.
Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) Service
Our UTI Service is available under the Pharmacy First programme. If you’re a woman aged between 16 and 64 and have symptoms of an uncomplicated urinary tract infection, you can access a private consultation with one of our pharmacists without needing to wait for a GP appointment.
During your consultation, we’ll discuss your symptoms — for example, a burning sensation when urinating or the need to urinate urgently or more often than usual — and assess whether you can be treated through the service or need to be referred for further medical advice.
Many UTIs resolve on their own or with simple measures, but where treatment is required we can provide it. The consultation is free of charge and includes advice on self-care and, where clinically appropriate, an antibiotic supplied by the pharmacist.
If your symptoms worsen or don’t improve as expected, we’ll refer you for further medical help.
Sore Throat Service
McDonalds Pharmacy offers the Pharmacy First Sore Throat Service for eligible patients aged 5 years and over. If you have a sore throat, you can visit us for a private consultation — no appointment is necessary.
During the consultation, the pharmacist will discuss your symptoms, assess your throat and, where appropriate, may carry out a test to help determine whether antibiotic treatment is likely to be beneficial. Most sore throats are caused by viral infections and will get better without antibiotics.
We’ll provide advice on self-care, including pain and fever relief, and, where appropriate, treatment can be supplied free of charge under the service. If your symptoms are more serious, do not improve or become worse, we’ll refer you for further medical advice.
Everyday Health Conditions
Pharmacy First also provides advice and, where appropriate, treatment for a range of everyday health conditions, including acne, athlete’s foot, diarrhoea, haemorrhoids, head lice, groin infections, threadworms, vaginal thrush, ear wax, mouth ulcers, oral thrush, scabies and verrucae.
Speak to our pharmacy team if you are unsure whether your condition is covered by the service.
Pharmacy First is a free service and no appointment is necessary. Please contact the pharmacy or call in and ask to speak to a pharmacist.
Medicine Management
McDonalds Pharmacy provides a free private and personal review to help our customers manage and understand their medication better.
Our Medicine Management service is especially helpful for people who take multiple medicines regularly or who are managing several medical conditions.
A Medicine Management Review is a relaxed, friendly discussion with one of our pharmacists in a private consultation room. During the review, we will talk about:
- The medicines you are taking
- What they do and how well they work for you
- The best way to take them
- The most suitable time of day to take them
- Any problems you may be experiencing with your medicines
- How to improve the use of inhalers or other devices where relevant
Medicines can interact with food, supplements, or other medicines, and some must be taken at specific times or in specific ways. For example:
- Some medicines must be taken before food so they can enter your system quickly
- Some should not be taken with certain foods, herbal remedies or other medicines
- Others must be taken with or after food to avoid stomach irritation
- Certain medicines should not be crushed because they are designed to release slowly
After a review, we may identify medicines that are no longer required, or recommend adjustments to how or when they are taken to help you get the best results.
If you feel you could benefit from reviewing your medication, speak to our pharmacist or contact us online or by phone to arrange a free Medicine Management Review.
Disposal & Recycling
McDonalds Pharmacy can safely dispose of out date medication and recycle the packaging where appropriate to do so.
If you have just opened your medicine cupboard or drawer and wonder how you have managed to accumulate all those unused and out of date medicines, or perhaps you are clearing the contents of a loved one’s home and don’t know what to do with medication that is no longer needed, then you are not alone and help is at hand.
Disposing of drugs in general waste can be dangerous. We offer a free service which gives you the complete reassurance that disposal of your unused medication will not cause harm when left in our professional hands.
Ostomy
McDonalds Pharmacy has helped many customers find the best ostomy products to match their particular needs.
Having a urostomy or colostomy bag fitted is without doubt a life changing experience but we know from the many customers who we have helped that once a personal solution has been established, life goes on pretty much as normal.
If we can assist you in any way please speak to the pharmacist or contact us to make an appointment. Urostomy and Colostomy care, in partnership with the other Healthcare Professionals involved in our customers treatment, forms a very specialised part of our healthcare services.
Smoking Cessation
Here at McDonalds Pharmacy we care about your long term health and if you are a smoker who wants to quit, but think that you need help to kick the habit, our stop smoking service might just be what you are looking for.
Our pharmacy team is is specially trained to provide free expert help and advice to support you while you initially break the smoking habit and then to stay off cigarettes for good. To help you break your nicotine addiction we may recommend Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT). This comes in many different forms including patches and gum and it is important that the right option is chosen to suit your individual needs.
Evidence has shown that if you take part in a stop smoking service that combines advice and support with NRT you are 4 times more likely to quit compared to using willpower alone. This is how the 12 week Stop Smoking programme works:
Initial Consultation
The first consultation with our pharmacist or specially trained advisor takes around 15 minutes. During this time we will agree a quit date and work out the best way for you to quit and learn about the programme.
Week 1
Before or on your agreed date you will visit the pharmacy, have a 5 minute consultation and if recommended, pick up your first week’s supply of NRT.
Weeks 2 to 12
After that you can return to the pharmacy every week for up to 12 weeks to pick up your supply of NRT.
