Over The Counter Medicines

GPs and health professionals are not required to provide patients with a prescription to treat a range of minor common illnesses, such as coughs, colds, indigestion and heartburn, or for minor conditions associated with pain, discomfort and fever such as aches and sprains, headache, period pain, back pain.

However, you can buy over the counter medicines from your local pharmacy to keep you well and healthy in treating these common illnesses.  Please visit this webpage for more information.

There are different choices available rather than visiting a GP and getting a prescription. These include:

• Keeping a selection of medicines at home to treat symptoms without delay especially pain relief.

• Visiting a pharmacy first before making a GP appointment. A pharmacist can advise you on how long symptoms last and recommend medication to help.

• Contacting a GP or calling 111 if symptoms have not improved or you start to feel worse.

Please help our NHS to use resources sensibly and always choose self-care and pharmacy first for the treatment of common minor health conditions.

GPs are recommended not to prescribe medicines to treat the following conditions (see list below). However, if you have these symptoms we encourage patients to look at Live Well on the NHS website, where you can find information on self-care and when you should seek advice from a healthcare professional.

Our GPs have been told NOT to prescribe medicines to treat the following minor conditions:

GPs can still prescribe over-the-counter medicines to patients in some circumstances, such as those who need long term support and treatment e.g. paracetamol for arthritis.

For more details on NHS policy guidance on buying over the counter medicines see here.