A YouGov poll, commissioned by Community Pharmacy Wales (CPW) shows that the Welsh public places the greatest importance on community pharmacies dispensing prescription medicines, ahead of all other services.
Amongst respondents with awareness of at least some NHS community pharmacy services, 44% of respondents identified dispensing as the most important service provided by community pharmacies, more than double the proportion selecting advice from a pharmacist (17%) and significantly higher than all other services, which were each cited by 10% or fewer respondents.
This preference is consistent across voting intention groups, with dispensing ranked as the most important service among supporters of all major parties.
The findings also show that dispensing remains central to how people use community pharmacies. 8 in 10 respondents (79%) have either used dispensing services themselves, and/or know someone who has, in the last 12 months. In addition, 59% of Welsh adults said they typically obtain their prescribed medicines from a community pharmacy, underlining its role as the main point of access for medicines.
Awareness of dispensing services is also high, with three-quarters (77%) of respondents recognising it as a service provided by community pharmacies
Responding to the findings, a CPW spokesperson said:
“This poll shows clearly that dispensing medicines remains the service that matters most to the public. It is not only the most important service by a significant margin, but also one of the most widely used and recognised.
While community pharmacies provide a growing range of clinical services, these findings reflect the reality that the safe and reliable supply of medicines continues to be the foundation of what patients value and depend on.”
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