Analgesia

As children go back to school and the days get shorter parents / guardians / carers start thinking about pain / fever relief for their children and themselves also. The previous page was all about first aid kits but in conjunction with a first aid kit your customers may well want advice on (and to purchase) pain killers (analgesia) and medicines to treat fever (antipyretic) for home use. Although many of these items can be sold anywhere including the supermarket and the corner shop the community pharmacy is conveniently located to offer this service and make revenue for the business. Customers will often come to the pharmacy before anywhere else because they want your advice, knowledge, and experience on dealing with medicines and analgesics are no exception.

There are too many analgesics to list in this module and even more variations / combinations / brands, but the two main analgesics sold over the counter (OTC) in the UK are Paracetamol and Ibuprofen in their various forms both of which are available from Numarknet in adult and children (tablet and liquid) forms.

Of course the pharmacy is there to boost revenue but patient safety is also paramount so GOV UK Pain relief has excellent advice and guidance on maximum amounts that should be supplied for pain relief. The general guidance is:

• Don’t sell more than two packs (of any pain killer) in any one transaction
• Don’t use offers that encourage the sale of more than one pack

Even with the GOV UK guidance do not be afraid to link sell to other relevant products but remember to check if those other products also contain Paracetamol or Ibuprofen first.