Urinary tract infections (UTIs) affect your urinary tract, including your bladder (cystitis), urethra (urethritis) or kidneys (kidney infection). UTIs may be treated with antibiotics, but they're not always needed.

We offer a UTI management service at Prestwich Pharmacy to help diagnose and treat your symptoms quickly, pop in and ask or book a telephone consultation first.

More information.

Pharmacy First Service - suitable for women aged 16 to 64 years with suspected lower UTIs

Excludes: pregnant individuals, urinary catheter, recurrent UTI (2 episodes in last 6 months, or 3 episodes in last 12 months)

Sore throats are very common and usually nothing to worry about.

They normally get better by themselves within a week.

Speak to your pharmacy team about ways of relieving the pain and discomfort of a sore throat, such as paracetamol or ibuprofen, medicated lozenges containing a local anaesthetic, or antiseptic. You can buy these treatments from a pharmacist without a prescription, or take advantage of the Pharmacy First service and have a consultation with a pharmacist.

(Pharmacy First Service - suitable for adults and children aged 5 years and over)

Excludes: pregnant individuals under 16 years 

Acute otitis media mainly affects children, can last for around 1 week and over 80% of children recover spontaneously without antibiotics. It occurs when the area behind the eardrum called the middle ear becomes inflamed and infected.

The following behaviours in children often mean they have AOM:

• fits of fussiness and intense crying (in infants)
• clutching the ear while wincing in pain (in toddlers)
• complaining about pain in the ear (in older children)

Book a telephone consultation with your pharmacist to get professional help quickly.

Appointments are available daily at Prestwich Pharmacy.

(Pharmacy First service suitable for children aged 1 to 17 years)

Excludes: recurrent acute otitis media (3 or more episodes in 6 months or four or more episodes in 12 months), pregnant individuals under 16 years

Insect bites or stings are not usually serious and get better in a few days. But sometimes they can become infected or cause a serious allergic reaction.

The main symptoms of an insect bite or sting is pain where you were bitten or stung and a small, swollen lump on the skin. The lump may look red. It may be more difficult to see on black or brown skin, but you should be able to feel it.

A member of the pharmacy team can advise you about medicines that can help ease the symptoms of a bite or sting, such as:

• antihistamines
• steroid creams
• painkillers

Pharmacy First Service - suitable for adults and children aged 1 year and over

Excludes: pregnant individuals under 16 years

Impetigo is a skin infection that's very contagious but not usually serious. It often gets better in 7 to 10 days if you get treatment. Anyone can get it, but it's very common in young children.

Impetigo starts with red sores or blisters, but the redness may be harder to see in brown and black skin. The sores or blisters quickly burst and leave crusty, golden-brown patches.

Check-in with your pharmacy team to get a diagnosis and treatment without having to wait for a GP appointment.

Pharmacy First Service - suitable for Non-bullous impetigo, for adults and children aged 1 year and over.

Excludes: bullous impetigo, recurrent impetigo (defined as 2 or more episodes in the same year), pregnant individuals under 16 years

Shingles is an infection that causes a painful rash. Get advice from 111 as soon as possible if you think you have it.

The first signs of shingles can be:

• a tingling or painful feeling in an area of skin
• a headache or feeling generally unwell

A rash will usually appear a few days later. In rare cases, shingles can cause pain without a rash. Usually, you get the shingles rash on your chest and tummy, but it can appear anywhere on your body including on your face, eyes and genitals. The rash appears as blotches on your skin, on 1 side of your body only. A rash on both the left and right of your body is unlikely to be shingles.

Call today to speak to a pharmacist - skip the GP!

Pharmacy First Service suitable for patients aged 18yrs and older.

Excludes pregnant individuals.