A CAMPAIGN is being launched in York in a bid to prevent hundreds of thousands of pounds being spent on unnecessary Accident and Emergency treatments.
The See Your GP campaign has been created after York Health Group ran a study with York Hospital which saw a local GP stationed at the Wigginton Road site treating scores of patients.
Over the five-week period, more than 600 patients were seen by the GP, and 70 per cent of them required absolutely no hospital treatment. Only nine per cent of those seen by the GP were admitted to hospital.
Dr Russell Saxby is a GP in York, and one of the faces behind the poster campaign adorning buses, York Station, GP surgeries and York Hospital.
He said the average cost to the local health service of someone being treated at A&E who could have been seen by their doctor is £117.
The difference is marked as the A&E department is so specialist and expensive to run in comparison to community doctors’ surgeries.
He said: “We saw the vast majority of the patients, about 79 per cent, within one hour.
“From an initial assessment, we knew that many of them should have really been going to their GP. A high number were young people, with 53 per cent being under 30 years old, and many of these were students.”
The campaign hopes to cut the number of people visiting A&E and lead to faster treatment for those with more serious conditions.
Mark Hayes, chair of the York Health Group, said: “At a time when the NHS is under huge pressure to spend every pound wisely, we hope people will help us to be as efficient as possible by thinking carefully about how they access healthcare.
“Your GP has years of experience in dealing with everyday conditions. Please reserve the use of the Accident and Emergency Department for true accidents and emergencies.”
Dr Phil Kirby, Interim Director of Public Health for NHS North Yorkshire and York, said: “We’re lucky in North Yorkshire and York as we have good access to a range of services.
“I hope this campaign makes people think twice before going to A&E with a minor symptom to free up services for those with a real need.”
An urgent issue
IN ONE sense, we can understand why some people head to A&E rather than a GP when they feel unwell. It isn’t always possible to get an appointment at your surgery at a time to suit you. But you really should think twice before doing so.
A study at York Hospital has shown that over a five-week period, 70 per cent of people turning up at A&E required no hospital treatment.
Such people aren’t only wasting their own time: they’re wasting that of hard-pressed hospital medics, too. Worse, they delay treatment for patients in genuine need.
GP surgeries are there for a reason: to deal with the kind of non-urgent injuries and illnesses that don’t require a visit to hospital.
Health bosses in York are so worried about the number of people turning up at A&E unnecessarily that they have launched a campaign urging people to see their GP instead.
We back that campaign wholeheartedly. A&E is for emergencies. You shouldn’t treat it as your own private health clinic.
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