CPD activity

Before you start reading this article, think about:

• What do I want to learn?
• What will I gain from this learning?
• What will my employer gain?
• What difference will it make to people who use my services?

Across the country, pharmacy is being increasingly recognised as an essential frontline service, playing an important role in meeting the health needs of patients. One of these roles is the provision of urgent care.

Urgent care can mean different things, but there is some consensus that it is associated with a health-related condition which is not quite an emergency, but could become one if not managed within 24 to 48 hours. For the purposes of this module, urgent care refers to any medical or health-related condition that the individual believes they need to get help with that day. So it is the individual who decides whether or not their health-related condition is urgent, whatever healthcare professionals and service providers may think.