NHS Advert

I think it's more a polite way of saying/reminding, 'Don't bother coming to see us, pester your chemist instead'. I suspect they may think it well worth their while, and the cost, to stop people with bad colds clogging up already over-worked surgeries.

Yes, I agree stillhere. And so many people still expect to be given antibiotics by their GP for a simple cold and get very indignant when they aren't.

All the adverts in the world won't put off some though...

But why aim the advert at over 65s? What about all the other people who dash to the doctors at the sign of a sniffle. In fact I would say that older people bother their doctors with minor complaints less than any other age group. Ageism?

Can't help feeling most over 65s know perfectly well how to look after themselves (Well the women anyway!)

Yes, I admit I overlooked the over-65s bit - sorry! I agree that it's quite often those in younger age groups who tend to take the NHS for granted.

..."before it gets more serious" seems an odd phrase really - what are they trying to say?....that a pharmacist can provide something that will prevent them from getting a chest infection? Clearly they can only offer symptomatic relief from their shelves. It seems bonkers - I have not seen this advert and find it hard to believe that it is sponsored by the NHS.

I have seen it several time and, yes, it is an NHS advert.

Nothing better to spend our money on I guess.

Waste of money, I agree.

NanKate If I went to my pharmacist he would enquire into the details, refer to my regular prescriptions and then make appropriate suggestions. Maybe we are lucky to have such a good one. I went in yesterday to pick up a prescription, showed him a minor issue and he told me it was not minor, what to do about it and if that didn't work go and see the doc. We think he is great.

You are lucky Nonnie we have a very varied group of pharmacists at our Boots.

NanKate Yes, we know we are and we appreciate having a local independent pharmacist. One GP said there are only 2 pharmacies in our area he would use and ours is one of them. I would always prefer to use an independent.

Our surgery being a country practice there is a dispensary on site so we only see the pharmacist when we visit the medical centre.

The farcical side of this is that patients at the practice are divided into sheep and goats, sheep like us who live out in a village can use the practice dispensary because we are more than two miles from our nearest dispensing chemist. Anyone in the practice (based in a small town) who lives within two miles of a chemist cannot use the on-site facilities but has to walk past them and go elsewhere to collect their prescription. Even more farcically our village is divided into sheep and goats. A main road threads through the village. If you live our side of the road you are (just) over two miles from a chemist,so can get prescriptions at the surgery, if you live on the other side of the main road there is a chemist (just) under two miles away so cannot use the surgery facilities!!!!!!!!!

Everyone uses the onsite pharmacy at our practice as their catchment area has no chemists.

The farce of this advert is that it is telling people over 65 that the pharmacist might be able to prevent stop a cold getting more "serious" when clearly the pharmacist os not able to do that, but can just provide symptomatic relief.

If it said please do not go to your doc with a cold but get something from the chemist first, then that would make sense.

It's not just pharmacies, though, is it?
The whole leaflet is so patronising. My son's partner asked if I had got one, and asked what I thought of it.

How many of you have been sitting at your computer for over an hour?
Because it tells you you have to keep active when indoors. Next thing they'll be giving us all fitbits or vivofits to wear, with info downloaded to the surgery.

Of course, if you see a pharmacist when you're that age you have to pay for any medication whereas a GP will have to give you a free prescription.

theconversation.com/pharma-use-loophole-to-hike-up-the-price-of-drugs-so-why-doesnt-the-nhs-stop-it-49866

Following on from your comment about paying for drugs, Tegan, why do we blame drug companies? Because they alter the way drugs are sold to the NHS. It's an interesting look at the hierarchy in the NHS.

IMO whenever I have asked a pharmacist (ANY pharmacist,be it in one of the big supermarket chains or a small independent one) they always always say 'I would recommend that you see your GP about it'.