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The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 266 No 7141 p429-432
March 31, 2001

Original Papers

Variation in the incidence, presentation and management of nine minor ailments in community pharmacy

By Liz Seston, MA (Econ), Margaret Nicolson, MSc, MRPharmS, Karen Hassell, PhD, Judith Cantrill, MSc, FRPharmS, and Peter Noyce, PhD, FRPharmS

Aim
To measure the incidence of nine minor ailments in community pharmacy and to compare aspects of their presentation and management in that setting.

DESIGN
Data were collected by pharmacy staff using a short data collection form over two separate one-week periods. Data were collected on the presenting features and the management of acne, cold sore, cystitis, diarrhoea, hay fever, head lice, indigestion, red eye and vaginal thrush.

SUBJECTS AND SETTING
18 community pharmacies in the North of England, which were members of a community pharmacy research panel.

OUTCOME MEASURES
Data on presentation, management and outcome of pharmacy minor ailment consultations as indicated on data collection forms.

RESULTS
The findings from this study indicate that the nine minor ailments showed marked variation in incidence, in the number of proxy consultations, the percentage of customers demanding a product by name and in rates of direct referral to GPs and other health professionals.

CONCLUSION
The Government is currently supporting moves to transfer the management of minor ailments from GPs to community pharmacists and other community-based health professionals. This small-scale study suggests that the minor ailments selected are not homogenous and vary in their incidence, presentation and management within community pharmacy. Further larger-scale work is needed to inform the debate on the management of minor ailments.

This article is available as a PDF file, here

Liz Seston is research associate, Margaret Nicolson is clinical lecturer, Karen Hassell is research fellow, Judith Cantrill is senior clinical lecturer and Peter Noyce is professor of pharmacy practice at the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL. Correspondence to Ms Seston (e-mail liz.seston@man.ac.uk)