NHS campaign aims to reduce GP appointments for minor ailments
The NHS has begun a summer campaign to encourage patients to self-care rather than visit their GP for coughs, sniffles and even dandruff.
The campaign – fronted by the National Self Care Forum – has produced a flyer, information for mobile phones and a colouring competition to encourage patients to think about self care.
The ‘Choose Well' campaign will also carry out a survey to find out why patients choose to go to a GP surgery or A&E rather than their pharmacist, and will use this information to encourage more self-care.
The NSCF claims over 50 million GP visits per year could be avoided if members of the public were more aware of self-care options for minor problems.
NHS figures obtained by the forum show 5.2 million GP visits annually for blocked noses, 40,000 visits for dandruff while a further 20,000 people visit their local surgery for travel sickness.
It said the unnecessary visits count for almost one in five appointments, draining resources from caring for older, chronically-ill people, and having a knock-on effect of placing A&E and emergency departments under further pressure.
Dr Paul Stillman, a GP in Crawley and a member of the National Self Care Forum, said: ‘We are not saying that people should not go to see their GP or use their A&E, emergency and 999 services if they believe they are seriously ill.'
‘We need to understand how we can encourage them to help themselves for common problems."
‘51.4 million GP appointments a year in England and Wales are for minor ailments alone, if we can encourage more people to self-care for common complaints, we can re-focus resources on people who really need them.'
The NHS patient survey is available here. It will close on 30 July and the results will be published in the autumn.
Have your say