You already know the drill. You wake up with a UTI, a flare of shingles, or an ear that’s been throbbing since Tuesday. You know it needs treating. So you call your GP surgery, sit on hold for twenty minutes, and get told the earliest appointment is in ten days.
Ten days.
For something a pharmacist could assess and treat today, for free, without you needing a referral from anyone.
The NHS Pharmacy First scheme launched in January 2024, and it means that for seven of the most common conditions that send people to their GP, your local pharmacy is now the faster, easier, and equally qualified option. No appointment needed. No referral. No waiting.
Both Chislehurst Pharmacy and Pond Pharmacy on the High Street offer Pharmacy First. If you’re in Chislehurst, Bromley, Orpington, Sidcup or anywhere nearby, you can walk in today.
Pharmacy First is an NHS England scheme that allows trained pharmacists to assess, diagnose and treat seven specific conditions — and prescribe antibiotics where clinically appropriate — without you needing to see a GP first.
It’s free on the NHS. It doesn’t affect your GP record. And in most cases, you can be seen the same day you walk in.
The scheme exists because GP surgeries are under enormous pressure, and a significant proportion of appointments are for conditions that pharmacists are fully qualified to handle. Pharmacy First frees up GP time for the cases that genuinely need it, while giving patients faster access to treatment for the things that don’t.
You can read more about how we deliver Pharmacy First at both our Chislehurst locations on our Pharmacy First page.
Sinusitis is inflammation of the sinuses — those air-filled spaces behind your cheeks, forehead and nose. Most cases follow a cold or upper respiratory infection, and the symptoms are hard to miss: facial pressure, blocked nose, thick discharge, and sometimes a headache that gets worse when you lean forward.
Most people with sinusitis assume they need antibiotics and head straight to the GP. In reality, the majority of sinusitis cases are viral and clear up on their own. A pharmacist can assess whether yours is bacterial — in which case antibiotics may be appropriate — or viral, in which case they’ll recommend the right treatment to manage your symptoms while your body clears it.
Who qualifies: Adults and children aged 12 and over.
A sore throat bad enough to make swallowing painful is miserable. It’s also one of the most common reasons people book a GP appointment — and one of the most straightforward things a pharmacist can assess.
Pharmacists use a clinical scoring tool called FeverPAIN to determine how likely your sore throat is to be bacterial rather than viral. The score looks at how quickly your symptoms came on, whether you have a fever, pus on your tonsils, and a few other clinical markers. Based on that assessment, the pharmacist can either recommend symptom relief or prescribe antibiotics where the clinical evidence supports it.
You don’t need to guess. You don’t need to book a GP. Walk in and let the pharmacist assess it properly.
Who qualifies: Adults and children aged 5 and over.
Ear pain in children sends most parents straight to the GP. That’s understandable — earache in young children can escalate quickly, and it’s frightening when you can’t tell how serious it is. But for the majority of cases, Pharmacy First is the faster, equally appropriate route.
Pharmacists can examine the ear, assess the severity, and determine the right course of treatment. For mild to moderate earache, pain management and watchful waiting is often the clinically correct approach. Where there’s evidence of bacterial infection, the pharmacist can prescribe antibiotics. If something more serious is suspected, they’ll refer you on.
Who qualifies: Adults and children aged 1 and over.
Most insect bites are uncomfortable but minor. An infected insect bite is different — the skin around the bite becomes red, warm, swollen and increasingly painful, sometimes with a spreading redness that suggests the infection is moving into surrounding tissue.
Left untreated, infected bites can develop into cellulitis, which is a more serious skin infection requiring prompt treatment. The good news: caught early, an infected bite is entirely straightforward for a pharmacist to assess and treat. Under Pharmacy First, they can prescribe antibiotics where the infection warrants it.
If you’ve got a bite that’s getting worse rather than better — particularly if the redness is spreading — don’t wait for a GP appointment. Come in and have it looked at today.
Who qualifies: Adults and children aged 1 and over.
Impetigo is a highly contagious bacterial skin infection that most commonly affects young children. It causes red sores that quickly burst, leaving crusty, golden-coloured patches — usually around the nose and mouth, but it can appear anywhere on the body.
Because it spreads easily through direct contact and shared items like towels, prompt treatment matters — both for the person affected and for stopping it passing to others in the household or classroom. Under Pharmacy First, your pharmacist can diagnose impetigo and prescribe antibiotic cream or tablets depending on the severity.
No GP appointment. No waiting. Treatment started today.
Who qualifies: Adults and children aged 1 and over.
Shingles is caused by the reactivation of the chickenpox virus, which lies dormant in nerve tissue after the initial infection. It typically causes a painful rash on one side of the body or face, preceded by a few days of burning, tingling or sensitivity in that area.
Timing is everything with shingles. Antiviral treatment is most effective when started within 72 hours of the rash appearing — and this is where Pharmacy First makes a genuine difference. Rather than waiting days for a GP appointment while that window closes, you can be assessed and prescribed antivirals by a pharmacist the same day.
If you think you might have shingles, don’t wait to see if it gets worse. Come in as soon as the rash appears.
Who qualifies: Adults aged 18 and over. Those aged 70 and over are prioritised.
A UTI is one of the most common bacterial infections in women — uncomfortable, disruptive, and for anyone who’s had one, completely unmistakeable. The burning sensation when urinating, the urgent and frequent need to go, and sometimes pain in the lower abdomen are all classic signs.
Under Pharmacy First, women aged 16 to 64 can be assessed and treated for an uncomplicated UTI without a GP appointment. The pharmacist will ask about your symptoms, may carry out a dipstick urine test, and can prescribe a course of antibiotics where appropriate. The whole process takes around 15 minutes.
Recurring UTIs, UTIs in men, or symptoms suggesting a kidney infection need GP assessment. Your pharmacist will tell you clearly if that’s the case.
Who qualifies: Women aged 16 to 64 with symptoms of an uncomplicated UTI.
No clipboard. No waiting room number. No fifteen-minute delay before anyone acknowledges you’re there.
You walk in, tell the team you’re there for a Pharmacy First consultation, and you’ll be taken into a private consultation room. What happens in there stays between you and the pharmacist — fully confidential, the same as a GP consultation.
The pharmacist will ask about your symptoms, how long you’ve had them, and your relevant medical history. Depending on your condition, they may carry out a brief physical examination. The whole assessment typically takes 10 to 15 minutes.
If treatment is appropriate, you’ll leave with a prescription or medication the same day. If your condition needs GP or hospital assessment, the pharmacist will explain why and make sure you know exactly what to do next. Nobody gets turned away without a clear plan.
Pharmacy First handles a specific set of conditions. For everything else — or if your symptoms are more complex or more severe — a GP is the right route, and the pharmacist will tell you that directly.
Go to your GP or call 111 if your symptoms are severe or deteriorating rapidly, if you have a high temperature alongside confusion or drowsiness, if your UTI symptoms suggest a kidney infection (back pain, fever, shivering), if you’re pregnant and have a UTI, or if you’re outside the eligible age range for any of the seven conditions.
Pharmacy First isn’t a replacement for your GP. It’s the right first stop for the specific conditions it covers, so that GP appointments remain available for the cases that genuinely need them.
If you’d like to find out more about Pharmacy First and how it works at our locations, we’ve put together a full overview.
They wish they’d known sooner.
Not sooner that week — sooner that the service existed at all. They’ve been booking GP appointments for years for conditions their pharmacist could have handled in 15 minutes. Sitting on hold, waiting ten days, taking time off work, all for something that was never a GP-level problem.
Pharmacy First doesn’t replace everything your GP does. But for sinusitis, sore throats, earache, infected bites, impetigo, shingles and UTIs — it’s faster, it’s free, and you don’t need anyone’s permission to use it.
Both locations are open Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm, and Saturday mornings until 1pm. Walk in, or call ahead if you want to check waiting times.
You can explore our Pharmacy First service for more details on what’s covered and how to prepare for your visit.
You know where we are.
Ready to take the next step?
Book your consultation at either Chislehurst Pharmacy Group location. Same-day and next-day appointments usually available.
