NHS Pharmacy First Scotland
1 April 2021 to 31 March 2024

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) presents information on the number and characteristics of patients accessing NHS Pharmacy First Scotland and Community Pharmacy Unscheduled Supply (CPUS) services. Information on planned developments can be found in the Background document.

Main points

Pharmacy First Scotland

• 32% of the Scottish population (1,747,654 people) used Pharmacy First in the most recent 12 months reported (April 2023 to March 2024).
• The number of people using Pharmacy First at least once in a 12 month period since reporting began, increased by 41%, from 1,242,842 in 2021/22 to 1,747,654 in 2023/24. This increase can be seen in both males and females, and across all age groups and deprivation quintiles.
• Over 84% of people who used the service during April 2023 to March 2024 received an item at least once. Alternative outcomes to contacts are advice only (for example guidance on self-care) and onward referral to another health professional.
• Of the 1,747,654 people accessing the service in 2023/24, 60% were female.
• The highest rate of Pharmacy First use was in the 0-9 years age group (252 per 1,000 population in the most recent quarter). This has been the case in each quarter since reporting began. The most recent quarter reported, January to March 2024 also saw the highest use of the service in every age group except the 90+ group.
• Use of Pharmacy First Scotland can be seen across all levels of deprivation in the population. In 2023/24, 43% of patients lived in the two most deprived quintiles.

Trend in number of patients per quarter using Pharmacy First Scotland: April 2021 - March 2024

A line chart showing the quarterly trend in number of male and female patients using Pharmacy First services at least once each quarter from April 2018 to March 2024. In both sexes, this has been increasing.

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Pharmacy First Scotland

A line chart showing the quarterly trend in number of male and female patients using Community Pharmacy Unscheduled Supply services at least once each quarter from April 2018 to March 2024. In both sexes, this has been increasing over the whole time period although has levelled out since January 2023.

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Community Pharmacy Unscheduled Supply

Community Pharmacy Urgent Supply (CPUS)

• 11% of the Scottish population (627,674) used CPUS at least once in the most recent 12 months reported (April 2023 to March 2024).
• The number of people using CPUS at least once in a 12 month period since reporting began, increased by 26% from 498,555 in 2021/22 to 627,674 in 2023/24. As with Pharmacy First, increases can be seen across all demographic groups reported.
• Of the 627,674 people using CPUS in the most recent 12 months reported, 58% were female.
• CPUS utilisation increases in older age groups. In the youngest age group (0-9 years) 39 patients per 1,000 population used the service in the most recent 12 months reported, compared with 327 per 1,000 population among the 90+ age group. 55% of patients using CPUS at least once in this time period were in the 50-79 year age group.
• As with Pharmacy First, use of CPUS can be seen across all deprivation quintiles, with 44% of people using the service in 2023/24 in the two most deprived quintiles.

Background

Further information on NHS Pharmacy First Scotland can be found on the NHS Inform website and information on Community Pharmacy Unscheduled Supply on the Community Pharmacy Scotland website.  More detailed information on the statistics presented can be found in the Background and Data Quality documents.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be April 2025.