“It’s Worth Its Weight in Gold”: Patient Reported Experience Measures of a National NHS-Funded Community Pharmacy-Based Common Ailments Service

The NHS-funded Common Ailments Service (CAS) in Wales enables community pharmacists to manage 28 common ailments by providing advice and/or medication free of charge without the need for patients to book an appointment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the patient experience of the CAS using patient reported experience measures (PREMs) and determine the feasibility of digital data capture collected directly from patients through a pharmacist-led manual recruitment model. The study used prospective, primary data collected through an online survey accessible via a Quick Response code and census recruitment. A total of 3660 surveys were included in the analysis, completed between 27 October 2025 and 31 March 2026. Overall experience was rated as excellent by 95.1% of participants. A theory-based framework analysis of 1499 free-text comments across the six domains of healthcare quality confirmed the high standard of care provision, primarily influenced by consultation quality, convenience, accessibility, and short waiting times. It also identified targeted areas for improvement, such as the need for seamless referrals from other areas of primary care and consistent availability of the service across all pharmacies. While digital PREMs captured high-quality insights, the pharmacist-led recruitment model reached a “feasibility ceiling”, with an overall response rate of 3.2%.