Expert advice on offer to support your health needs

IAN BUNTING

People living in Airdrie and Coatbridge are being encouraged to bend the ear of their local health expert to find out how they can access a wide range of “help and advice quickly and easily”.

Chris Johnstone is one of NHS Lanarkshire’s “Meet the Experts” professionals who appeared in one of a series of light-hearted films produced to help inform Monklands residents about the range of available health services.

Chris, who works as a community pharmacist across Lanarkshire, explained: “Pharmacists are experts in medicines and they can also provide healthcare advice, without the need for an appointment.

“They should be the first port of call for questions about prescriptions or advice on remedies for coughs, colds and other minor ailments.”

Visiting a local health expert is a much faster and easier way for people to get the health help they need, without having to see their GP first or spending hours waiting in A&E.

The “Meet the Experts” professionals include a dentist, optician, physiotherapist and a nurse at a minor injuries clinic.

The NHS Lanarkshire website also features a new film on self-care, often the simplest way to treat a minor illnesses and injuries like a cough, sore throat or a burn, and details on national services like NHS Inform and NHS24.

John Keaney, divisional medical director for NHS Lanarkshire’s acute services, said: “If people take advantage of the expert help on their doorstep, then A&E departments can be kept free to treat patients facing serious health problems.

“We’re urging people to stop and think before they go to A&E.

“There are lots of other qualified experts who can safely and quickly advise people on many health conditions.”

Lanarkshire’s A&E services are already among the busiest in Scotland, with people typically waiting four hours or longer during peak times and this winter one of the busiest on record, so people are being urged to only visit A&E departments in a real emergency.

To help everyone get the right help and support they need, people are being encouraged to visit www.nhsinform.scot first to find a nearby health expert.

There is also a self-help guide for minor illnesses and injuries and you can chat online, or call 0800 224 488 between 8am and 10pm every day.

Here to help Chris Johnstone, who works as a community pharmacist across Lanarkshire, is a “Meet the Experts” professional