Common Ailments Service
The Common Ailment service should be considered as an alternative to GP referral for patients who need NHS advice and treatment for a number of common ailments.
Patients who require advice relating to eye conditions should be referred to the Welsh Eye Care Service delivered by community optometrists(opticians) throughout Cardiff and Vale.
Who can access the Common Ailments Service?
Any patient who is registered to a Welsh GP is eligible to access the Common Ailments Service, the only exclusions are:
- Temporary residents whose usual address is not in Wales
- Care Home residents
What conditions are covered?
Pharmacists can offer advice and/or treatment for 26 agreed conditions. These are:
-
- Acne
- Athletes Foot
- Backache (acute)
- Chickenpox
- Cold sores*
- Colic*
- Conjunctivitis(bacterial)
- Constipation
- Dermatitis (acute)
- Diarrhoea*
- Dry Eye
- Haemorrhoids
- Hayfever
- Head Lice
- Indigestion/reflux
- Ingrowing toenail*
- Intertrigo/ringworm
- Mouth Ulcers
- Nappy rash
- Oral thrush
- Scabies
- Sore throat/tonsillitis
- Teething
- Threadworm
- Vaginal thrush
- Verruca
*there are no evidence based NHS treatments available for these conditions. Pharmacists will provide advice on self care and ongoing management of symptoms.
What about conditions not included (e.g. cough, cold, rash)?
Patients suffering with other conditions will not be able to access the Common Ailments service. They may however receive advice from the pharmacist and the option to buy medicines over the counter. If a pharmacist feels that the patient needs to be seen by the GP they will refer appropriately.
Can everyone be referred to the Common Ailments Service?
For some conditions there are exclusions based on
- Age
- Pregnancy/breastfeeding
- Clinical exclusions
These vary depending on the condition a summary of the exclusion criteria can be found on the following page. If you are unsure whether to refer to pharmacy please contact your local pharmacist for advice.
Please see our full list of pharmacies in Cardiff providing this service.