Community Pharmacy England has teamed up with Healthwatch England to launch an online Pharmacy First patient survey.

Pharmacies are being encouraged to direct patients to the survey after they have received the service with the aim of collecting feedback to help inform service improvements and quantify the value of the service to the public.

CPE has developed resources to promote the survey – a poster with a QR code to the survey, and small flyers to hand out to patients who have received the service. The survey has been designed to be quick and easy to complete. During testing, most patients took around two minutes to complete it, says CPE.

CPE says pharmacy teams should ask patients to complete the survey following a consultation for the Minor illness (referrals) or Clinical pathways (referrals and walk-in) strands of the service. It is not for patients who have used the Urgent supply of medicines/appliances service.

The survey will remain open until at least the end of 2025. The results will feed into the national evaluation of the Pharmacy First service, and be shared with the Department of Health and NHS England.