Right care, Right place
For further information on whether to seek advice from your local pharmacy, GP or Dentist see the NHS Fife Right Care Right Place section.
Pharmacists are experts in medicines and can help you with health concerns. They are qualified healthcare professionals and can offer advice and over-the-counter medicines for a range of minor illnesses, such as coughs, colds, sore throats, gastric discomfort and aches and pains.
Pharmacy teams are trained to a high standard to support the pharmacist in providing healthcare advice. If your symptoms suggest something more serious, the duty pharmacist can ensure you get the help you need and will tell you if you need to see a GP, nurse or other healthcare professional.
No appointment needed
Many pharmacies are open until late and at weekends and you can usually visit without an appointment. Most have a private consultation room where you can discuss issues with pharmacy staff in confidence.
Find out your pharmacy opening times.
To find your nearest pharmacy, visit the find your nearest section on this site.
All pharmacies in Fife provide the following services:
Pharmacy First
If you have a minor illness, a pharmacy is the first place you should go for advice, and best of all, you don’t usually need an appointment.
You can visit any community pharmacy to receive this service for expert help in treating conditions such as sore throats, earache and cold sores, along with common clinical conditions such as urinary tract infections (UTI's). If the pharmacy can’t resolve your issue, or if you require specialist assessment, they can refer you to other healthcare teams.
The Pharmacy First Service helps you access the right care in the right place, without having to go to your GP practice or local Accident and Emergency Department for non-urgent treatment.
For more information, the Pharmacy First section of NHSinform.scot where a range of translated materials are also available.
Acute Medication Service
The Acute Medication Service (AMS). This means the electronic transmission of prescription information between your GP and the community pharmacy, or the dispensing of NHS prescriptions.
Medication: Care and Review
Medicines: Care and Review (M:CR) allows patients with long-term conditions to receive medicines and pharmaceutical care from their pharmacy. More information is available here.
Serial Prescriptions
As part of the M:CR service, you may be eligible for a serial prescription if you receive regular repeat prescription medicines. This means that instead of ordering your medicines every one or two months, your GP will issue a long-term prescription which will last for 24, 48 or 56 weeks. You can then collect your medicines from your pharmacy every four or eight weeks. There is no need to order from the GP practice and your medicines will be ready to collect from the pharmacy when you need them.
You can find out more by asking at your pharmacy or GP practice.
Public Health Service
The Public Health Service (PHS) provides a health-promoting environment within the pharmacy - including promoting national health campaigns.
Within the pharmacy, this service also offers:
- Sexual health service and Emergency Hormonal Contraception (EHC)
- A stop smoking (smoking cessation) service
- Gluten Free Foods Service (GFFS)
- Access to paracetamol for childhood vaccinations where appropriate
Additional Services
Community pharmacies may also offer the following services and information:
- Travel vaccination service (Find out more)
- Flu vaccination service
- Buprenorphine and Methadone dispensing and supervision
- Injection Equipment Provision
- Return of medicines waste and prescribed sharps
- Naloxone Supply Service
- Palliative Care
- Stoma Service
- Hepatitis C treatment
