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As the NHS gears up for another busy winter, health professionals across central Lancashire are appealing to people to consider how they use NHS services.
The Choose Well Campaign aims to ensure people know about the range of services available, and also how to keep fit and well.
The winter months always see an increase in the number of people going to their GP, dialling 999 or turning up at A&E. Senior doctors believe that some of the pressure on NHS services could be eased if people were more aware of the range of alternatives for fast and effective advice and treatment, often without an appointment.
Local GP and NHS Central Lancashire’s urgent care lead Dr Bob Bennett said: “The number of people using A&E and 999 services is going up year on year in the north west. New services have been introduced, such as walk-in centres, and have helped to ease some of the pressure; but the numbers of people using emergency services continues to rise.
“I think we need to get back to the message that A&E departments are for life-threatening and emergency conditions, such as heart attacks, strokes, breathing problems and serious accidents.
“Our hospital A&E teams deal with some of the highest numbers of people who have life-threatening conditions such as heart-attacks, strokes and lung disease in the country. We need to make sure we can concentrate on helping these emergency cases.
“A&E teams are faced with having to deal with cases such as coughs and colds, backache and upset stomachs on a daily basis – conditions that could be dealt with through a trip to the high street chemist.
“Through Choose Well we want to re-educate people about using the right service to get the right treatment. We’ve introduced a ‘traffic light’ system to highlight the appropriate services to use. We really need to get local people on our side with this issue.
“If you are not sure about where to find the right service for you, there is a lot of information available now. You can log onto NHS Central Lancashire’s website www.centrallancashire.nhs.uk/choosewell or contact NHS Direct www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk; 0845 46 47.”
A range of materials, including leaflets, posters and a screensaver, are available for people to download from NHS Central Lancashire’s website: www.centrallancashire.nhs.uk/choosewell/toolkit . Or contact the communications team on communications@centrallancshire.nhs.uk