NHS England has launched a new campaign today called ‘The earlier, the better.’ It encourages people to seek help from their local pharmacist or go to www.nhs.uk/asap early on if they’re feeling under the weather.

One of the areas that the Urgent and Emergency Care Review report (published in November 2013) discusses is the much greater use of the skills, experience and convenience of community pharmacists across England for advice on minor ailments and support in management of long-term conditions.

This campaign aims to reduce pressure on the NHS urgent and emergency care system by changing public behaviour to help reduce the number of people requiring emergency admissions with illnesses that could have been effectively treated earlier by self care or community pharmacy services.The campaign will run from 20th January to the end of March 2014 and will feature adverts in the national press, websites and on local radio stations, as well as posters in pharmacies, tweets and stories on Facebook.

There is plenty of support for the campaign including from the NHS Confederation, British Medical Association (BMA) and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS).