Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer on 27 July 2021 to Question 35950 on Primary Health Care, what steps his Department is taking to support people to self care for minor ailments.

All community pharmacies in England delivering National Health Services (NHS) provide support for patients to self-care. This support can include provision of advice, information, and where appropriate the sale of medicines to patients, carers and the general public to support their self-care for minor ailments.

Additionally, over 10,500 community pharmacies in England are registered to deliver the NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service. This enables patients to be referred from NHS 111 and General Practice to quickly and conveniently have their symptoms of minor illness assessed by the pharmacist, who will carry out a physical assessment as appropriate, or offer a remote consultation. In the majority of cases patients receive health advice or may purchase medicines to support self-care.