Key Summary
- Common ailment consultations reached a record high of 462,000, an increase of more than one-third over the previous year.
- The current consultation rate is just over six times higher than it was five years ago.
- While dispensing remains the primary role, with a record 80.2 million items issued, pharmacies are increasingly acting as clinical service hubs.
Community pharmacies across Wales are playing a major role in primary care, with new data showing a surge in patient consultations for common illnesses.
According to the latest annual report from the Welsh Government covering April 2024 to March 2025, common ailment consultations increased to over 462,000, marking an increase of more than a third compared to the previous year. This accounted for nearly 346,000 different individuals.
Current consultation rates are now just over six times higher than they were five years ago.
While pharmacies continue their primary role of dispensing prescriptions - reaching a record high of 80.2 million items this year - their evolution into clinical service hubs is evident.
The Clinical Community Pharmacy Service (CCPS) was implemented Wales-wide in April 2022 as part of the "Pharmacy: Delivering a Healthier Wales" vision, which serves as NHS’s 10-year plan.
The surge in pharmacy-led consultations is viewed as a vital mechanism for relieving pressure on traditional medical infrastructure.
Officials note that these services provide essential advice and treatment that might otherwise further burden general practices and emergency departments.
Data from the 2024-2025 financial year highlights several key trends in these pharmacy visits:
Most Common Ailments: Over half of all visits were driven by just five conditions: sore throat (11.8 percent), hay fever (11.6 percent), conjunctivitis (10.8 percent), dry skin/dermatitis (10.4 percent), and threadworms (10.0 percent).
Sore Throat Innovation: The "Sore Throat Test and Treat" (STTT) service, which helps pharmacists identify bacterial infections on-site, saw a 40.3 percent annual increase with over 53,000 consultations.
Demographics: Children aged 15 or younger accounted for nearly a quarter of all consultations. Among adults, females used the service at nearly twice the rate of males.
As of March 31, 2025, there were 690 active community pharmacies in Wales. While the total number has decreased by 26 over the last decade, the sector has seen a recent rise in independent pharmacies, which increased by 1.3 percent over the past year.
The accessibility of these services remains high, with 99.9 percent of community pharmacies accredited to provide CCPS priority services as of March 2024.
This widespread availability led to a new monthly record in March 2025, when pharmacies performed over 46,400 consultations in a single month.
