Community Pharmacy Awareness and Experience Engagement

What we set out to achieve

NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) undertook engagement to better understand awareness, use and experiences of community pharmacy services across Lincolnshire.

This work followed discussion of the Public Health and Health Inequalities chapter of the Lincolnshire Community Pharmacy Strategy and aimed to gather insight from patients, NHS staff and community pharmacy teams.

The engagement sought to:

• Understand public awareness and experiences of community pharmacy services
• Explore how NHS staff and system partners currently refer or signpost patients to community pharmacies
• Capture community pharmacy staff perspectives on service delivery and health inequalities
• Identify opportunities to improve awareness, referral pathways, partnership working and future service development

The findings will help inform future work to strengthen preventative care, improve access to services, and maximise the role of community pharmacy within the wider health and care system.

What we did

Engagement took place between 17 October and 30 November 2025 and included three complementary surveys to capture views from key groups.

• Public and Patient Survey on Community Pharmacy – open to residents across Lincolnshire (277 responses)
• NHS Staff and Stakeholder Awareness Survey – aimed at NHS staff and system partners (42 responses)
• Community Pharmacy Staff Survey – distributed to staff working within community pharmacies (12 responses)

The surveys were promoted through a range of communication channels including the ICB engagement bulletin, primary care bulletins, direct emails to staff, the ICB website and social media channels, GP practices, community pharmacies, Healthwatch, voluntary sector partners, and Patient Participation Groups. Digital posters and QR codes were also used to support promotion.

What you told us

Public and Patient Survey on Community Pharmacy
Public awareness and experiences

• Community pharmacy was the most commonly reported source of advice for non urgent health issues (46%, 123/270), followed by the NHS website (37%, 101/270) and GP practices (32%,87/270).
• Overall experiences were positive, with 80% of respondents reporting they were very (103/214,48%) or mostly happy (69/214,32%) to visit a community pharmacy.
• Awareness of some pharmacy services varied, particularly for newer or more specialised services.

Barriers and opportunities

• Some respondents preferred GP practice care, while others raised concerns about waiting times, privacy or understanding the role of pharmacists.
• The most common factors that would encourage greater use were more information about available services (43%, 86/198) and shorter waiting times compared with GP practices (42%, 84/198).

NHS staff perspectives

• Most staff reported good awareness of community pharmacy services.
• Staff most commonly referred patients to pharmacy to reduce pressure on GP appointments (72%,21/29), they had high confidence in pharmacy teams and because pharmacies are convenient for patients (both 59%, 17/29).

Community pharmacy staff insights

• Staff highlighted groups most affected by health inequalities locally including people on low incomes, older adults, people experiencing homelessness and people with mental health conditions.
• Pharmacy teams reported that pharmacies can play an important role through advice, signposting and collaboration with local services.
  -91% reported feeling very confident (33%, 4/12) or confident (58%, 7/12) in their understanding of health inequalities and the role of community pharmacy.

The difference it’s made

(What are the outcomes? Where has it been reported into? Has it helped shaped a strategy, designing of leaflets etc.?)
The engagement findings provide valuable insight to support future planning and partnership working across the health and care system.

The results will help inform:

• Future communications to improve public awareness of community pharmacy services
• Opportunities to strengthen referral pathways and collaboration between NHS services and community pharmacies
• Training and information resources for NHS staff to support appropriate signposting to community pharmacy services
• Future work supporting community pharmacy’s role in reducing health inequalities and improving access to care

The findings will also contribute to ongoing work linked to the Lincolnshire Community Pharmacy Strategy and wider system discussions on preventative care and access to services.

What’s next?

The ICB will use the insights from this engagement to help inform future work with community pharmacy providers and system partners.

This will include:

• Developing communications and resources to raise awareness of community pharmacy services
• Supporting improved referral and signposting pathways across health and care services
• Exploring opportunities for further collaboration between community pharmacies and local partners
• Considering training or support that may help pharmacy teams address health inequalities and support preventative care

The ICB will continue to work with partners to ensure community pharmacy services are effectively integrated within local care pathways and accessible to communities across Lincolnshire.