Ease pressure on health services over New Year

“When you get old people don’t want to make you look ridiculous. You get treated with respect - God it’s awful being treated with respect” DECEMBER has already been very busy for our Ambulance service and other parts of the NHS.

Our A&E operations staff have been responding to everything from strokes and heart attacks to breathing difficulties and serious injuries and the NHS 111 service has provided advice to thousands of patients with common ailments such as stomach upsets, skin conditions, headaches and minor injuries. In addition, our non-emergency Patient Transport Service is ensuring patients who need vital treatments such as renal dialysis are conveyed to their appointments.

I am writing to your readers to ask them to be considerate and help to ease the pressure on our services over the New Year period. This includes behaving responsibly while out celebrating, looking after friends and neighbours who may be vulnerable at this time of year and keeping themselves safe, whether at home or out and about, so that we can keep emergency ambulances for those who really need them.

Please make sure you have essential items in your medicine cabinet so you can treat common health problems at home, ensure you have sufficient prescription medicine to last over the New Year weekend and remember to pack your medication if you’re going away to stay with friends or relatives.

Please take extra care when you are out on the roads and drink responsibly when celebrating.

We ask that you only call 999 for an ambulance in an emergency when it is clear that you or another person has a serious or life-threatening illness or injury and needs time-critical medical assistance. We will always respond to anyone needing vital treatment, but we often find that our staff are called out to deal with patients whose needs are less urgent. This means emergency ambulances can be tied up unnecessarily to the detriment of patients with potentially very serious conditions.

Anyone with a minor illness or injury should use the appropriate services for their needs such as their local pharmacist or GP, attending a walk-in centre or minor injuries unit or calling NHS 111.

I’m pleased to say the vast majority of people do use our emergency service appropriately. However, some do need to be reminded about the importance of making the right choice about their healthcare needs and the NHS Choices website provides useful information and advice on many common con-