The pharmacy – or chemist’s – as we affectionately called it, used to be the beating heart of the high street. A familiar face would dispense anything from advice for an earache to the right factor of sunscreen to take on holiday. But for many of us, the local pharmacy is no more as local branches close and the friendly faces behind the counter become increasingly overworked and out of pocket.
Today, Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Community Pharmacy Liverpool kicked off a new clinical service that will allow more than 100 pharmacies to offer a 10-minute, point-of-care test to differentiate bacterial from viral respiratory infection.