If you have out of date or unwanted medicines, both prescription or over the counter drugs, don’t bin them or flush them. You can take your unwanted or out of date medicines back to your pharmacy for safe disposal, and it’s completely FREE. Each year enormous quantities of unused and expired medications are dumped into bins or flushed down toilets and sinks. The effects on the environment and human health are unclear but evidence is pointing to the presence of chemicals from prescriptions and over-the-counter medications in soil, drinking water and the surrounding environment. Just as proper medication administration is important, so is safe and cautious disposal.

If you need one of your regular medicines in an emergency when you are unable to contact your doctor, we may be able to help. We must stress that this can only be done in genuine emergencies and it may incur a charge.

The emergency contraceptive pill (morning after pill) – there are two types, Levonelle or ellaOne. You can get both Levonelle and ellaOne free of charge from: 

• contraception clinics
• most sexual health or genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics
• most NHS walk-in centres and minor injuries units 
• most GP surgeries
• some hospital accident and emergency (A&E) departments 

After consultation with a pharmacist you can buy emergency contraception from our pharmacy. Levonelle can be taken within 72 hours (three days) of having unprotected sex, but it's most effective if taken within 12 hours of having unprotected sex. Prices vary, but it's likely to cost around £25. You need to be 16 or over to buy Levonelle. Girls under 16 can get Levonelle, but only with a prescription from their doctor.

ellaOne can be taken within 120 hours (five days) of having unprotected sex, but it's most effective if taken as soon as possible after having unprotected sex. Prices vary, but it's likely to cost around £35. ellaOne can be sold to under 16s without a prescription.

The pharmacist and our trained assistants are available for advice on all medicines and minor ailments, in private if required. We can also give you advice on how to live a healthy life, for example, advice on how to stop smoking, or healthy diets. We can direct you to other sources of advice and assistance if we cannot help you ourselves.

This is an opportunity for our pharmacist to discuss and review the medicines you are taking to ensure you are using them correctly and getting the maximum benefit. We will explain clearly and simply, without any medical jargon, what they are for and the conditions they treat and identify any possible side effects that you may be experiencing. We will listen to you and any problems you are having with your medicines, provide advice and support and if necessary contact your Doctor to discuss any issues that arise from our conversation.

An MUR can help:

• improve your understanding of the medicines you are taking;
• highlight problematic side effects and propose solutions where appropriate;
• improve adherence
• reduce medicines wastage, usually by helping you only order the medicines you need

Our pharmacist may be able to conduct an MUR over the telephone or for eligible patient

You can have a free NHS flu Jab at our pharmacy:
• If you are 65 years of age or over
• If you are pregnant
• If you are a carer

If you have certain medical conditions including:
• Asthma
• Chronic Respiratory Disease
• Heart Disease
• Diabetes
• Kidney Disease
• Liver Disease
• Neurological Disease

We provide a needle exchange service where intravenous drug users can obtain clean  sterile needles and syringes and safely dispose of used needles and syringes.

This service is designed to prevent people sharing or re using needles.  It also reduces drug related harm and the transmission of blood borne bacterial and viral infections such as hepatitis B and C or HIV.

The service is lead by our Pharmacist in a non-judgemental manner and may lead to the user being referred to an appropriate drug treatment programme i.e. opioid substitute treatment in order to stop drug usage .  Our Pharmacist can also advise on minimising the harms caused by drugs and suggest further support and help.

When you are prescribed a new medicine by your doctor our pharmacists can offer support and advice to ensure you take the new medication as prescribed without suffering any unwanted side effects or explain any further questions you may have. We usually do this by keeping in contact with you during the first 4 weeks of your new medicine being prescribed.

The service is only available for people living in England, and only for those who have been prescribed a new medicine for the conditions listed:

• asthma
• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• type 2 diabeasthmates
• high blood pressure
• people who have been given a new blood-thinning medicine

The NMS can help:

• improve your adherence (taking your medicines correctly) which will generally lead to better health outcomes
• increase your engagement with your condition and medicines, supporting you to make decisions about your treatment and self-management
• reduce medicines wastage
• reduce hospital admissions due to adverse events from medicines