Pharmacy Services

As a key partner of the NHS, we are able to deliver specific services that are designed to meet the specific needs of our customers and patients in their local communities. We aim to be the first choice for all healthcare needs and offering the following types of services is just one way that we can extend our expertise to our customers.

Medicines Check Up

The service (also known as a medicines use review) involves a consultation with the pharmacist to discuss your medication. This includes all prescribed medicines, such as tablets, liquids, creams and inhalers, along with any purchased from a pharmacy, health shop or supermarket (for example, vitamins, supplements or pain killers). It gives an opportunity to ask any questions you may have about how and why you should be taking your medicines and any problems this is causing.

This service is currently available in England and Wales and is aimed at patients taking more than one medicine or who have a long-term condition.

Minor Ailments Service

This service is for people who don't pay for their prescriptions and allows them to receive advice and medicines for a range of minor ailments, free of charge without having to visit their GP first. Examples of minor ailments covered as part of the service include headache, hay fever, coughs and colds.

This service is currently available in Scotland and Northern Ireland and from selected stores in England and Wales.

Drug user service

Our services for drug users reduce the risk of contracting infections, causing harm and reduce psychological problems. Substance misuse has a major impact on individuals, families and the community.

The service helps to engage users in drug treatment and reduce drug related harm and crime via supervised consumption of heroin substitutes and by offering needle and syringe exchange schemes. Supervision prevents diversion of legally prescribed methadone onto the black market.

This service is available from selected pharmacies across England, Wales and Scotland.

Locally commissioned services

Many of our pharmacies will also offer a range of services commissioned locally by NHS primary care organisations.

NHS and Boots Pharmacy Service

- Stop smoking service

All our pharmacies are able to provide customers with the advice and support needed to help them stop smoking. Where necessary, our pharmacists can identify the most suitable nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) for our customers. NRT has been shown to double a person's chances of quitting smoking.

In some of our pharmacies customers can have a Smokerlyser test to measure how much carbon monoxide they have in their breath and in our larger flagship stores customers are able to have a 'real lung age' test.

NRT and other products are available to purchase in all our pharmacies. Many of our pharmacies also offer NHS-funded stop smoking services.

Boots Pharmacy Services

- Hair Retention programme

The Hair Retention programme is a Pharmacist-led professional programme. It is only for men over 18 and up to 70 years old with a qualifying level of hair loss due to male pattern baldness. The programme is based on clinically proven results. In clinical studies, 9 out of 10 men with male pattern baldness kept their hair, whilst untreated men continued to lose their hair.

The programme involves the following:

• An initial consultation and assessment with a Boots pharmacist who is fully trained to give advice relevant to the customer's specific hair retention needs
• An effective hair retention medicine with detailed instructions on how the medicine works and how to take it
• Follow-up reviews with a Boots pharmacist - the customer' progress can be carefully monitored using digital photographs, so their hair pattern and its thickness can be assessed objectively
• Discounts on selected Boots hair care products - to help our customers make the most of their hair and keep it in tip-top condition

Hair Retention services are available from larger Boots stores.

NHS services are provided under different legislation in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Please ask our pharmacy teams about the availability of services in your area and which are appropriate for you.