Pharmacy and medicines

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Your local pharmacy

Pharmacies offer a lot more services today than in the past. Watch a video about what your pharmacist can do for you.

All NHS Choices videos

Ask your pharmacist for advice and support

Your local pharmacy is more than just a shop for medicines. It could save you a trip to your GP.

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Accessing medicines out of hours

How to get your prescription medicines outside usual opening hours.

Avoid medicines scams

Does an online miracle cure hold the answer to your health problem?

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Your medicine cabinet

A pharmacist explains the essential medicines no household medicine cabinet should be without.

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Treating common conditions

Not feeling well? Your pharmacy can deal with minor health problems and save you a visit to your GP

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Medicines for children

All children have their share of coughs and colds. Find out what medicines you should keep handy.

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Discussing your medicines

To make the most of your medicines, find out what to discuss with your doctor. Plus, a pharmacist answers common questions.

Keep track of your medicines

Going into hospital? Changing GP? Help ensure you get the right medicines.

Pharmacy facts

Ten facts about pharmacies. Did you know they dispense more than two million items a day?

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Home remedies for common conditions

Get practical advice to deal with the 10 most common minor health conditions at home.

Pharmacy remedies and kidney disease

Which over-the-counter remedies are safe to take if you have kidney disease.

Do you have asthma?

Asthma affects more than 5 million people in the UK. Take this interactive quiz to see if you could have it.

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Video: stop smoking

Your local pharmacy can help you stop smoking. Watch this video to see how other real-life smokers quit.

Video: weight loss tips

Some local pharmacies run weekly weight loss meetings. In this video, real-life slimmers share tips that worked for them.

Getting started

Services near you

Find addresses, phone numbers and websites for services near you

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Also on NHS Choices

Contraception guide

All you need to know about contraception, how it works and where to get it

Vaccination schedule

Find out which vaccinations are offered to everyone on the NHS and at what age, and the optional vaccinations for special risk groups

Colds and flu

The difference between a cold and flu, symptoms, remedies and who needs to have the flu jab

First aid

What to do if someone is injured in an accident

Health anxiety (hypochondria)

Most of us worry about our health from time to time. But for some people, this worry never goes away and becomes a problem in itself

Complementary and alternative medicine

Articles and videos on regulation, effectiveness and evidence

Difficulty swallowing pills

What you can do, and the issues around crushing tablets or opening capsules

Allergies

Advice on allergies such as eczema and food allergy, and what treatments are available on the NHS

Supplements: do you need them?

Millions of us use supplements and vitamin pills, but are they doing us any good?

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