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Helping you access healthcare this bank holiday weekend
Extra GP appointments across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire will be available this Queen’s Jubilee bank holiday weekend to help people get the care they need and to ease pressures on NHS and healthcare services.
The appointments will be bookable via 111 online via trained advisors who will book an appointment for you, if it is needed.
Pauline Hand, Managing Director of NHS 111 for the East Midlands, said: “We would urge people to use 111 Online for advice or call 111 if you need to speak to a health advisor with an urgent medical problem and you are not sure where the best place would be to get treatment for your concern.
“Our website and health advisors can help you to get a General Practice appointment, direct you to an Urgent Treatment Centre or your nearest available A&E and Pharmacy, they can also advise you on the best course of self-care if you have a mild illness, rash, or infection.
“The recent bank holidays saw almost a fifth of calls to 111 relating to repeat prescriptions so we would urge anyone needing medication over the Jubilee Weekend to order their repeat prescriptions now through their General Practice, pharmacy or NHS App. This will ensure you have enough of the right medicine well ahead of the weekend, enabling you to enjoy your weekend in the best of health.”
Nottingham and Nottinghamshire residents can also make use of the NHS App to access a wide range of services and information, meaning that they don’t necessarily need to call their GP or wait on the telephone for an appointment – it can also save users time and avoid potentially travelling to their surgery when they could perform an action or receive advice digitally. Via the NHS App, residents can access their medical records, manage appointments, review medication and order repeat prescriptions as well as checking symptoms and tracking their own health.
Members of the public can also help ease pressures by using their pharmacy. Pharmacist, Robert Severn, said: “Pharmacies can help with things like allergies, constipation, headaches, ear aches and many other ailments. We are here to help and are happy to advise on any of these things. Please visit your local pharmacy to get advice. Remember that it is a four- day bank holiday from Thursday 2 June to Sunday 5 June, so please also remember to order your prescriptions in time for any medication you may need.”
Many pharmacies are open over the bank holiday weekend, you can find opening hours for your local pharmacy over the Bank Holiday Weekend here.
Clinical Leader of NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CCG, Dr James Hopkinson said: “We know it is difficult for people if they feel ill over the bank holiday and don’t know where to turn, which is why we are advising people to go to 111 online or call 111 if they are unsure, as they will be able to advise you or even put you in touch with a medical specialist who can help.
“I would like to thank colleagues across the system who are working this bank holiday. We are all pulling together to make sure that we are providing the best possible care for our patients in a timely way and we would urge people to use 111, use their pharmacy or visit their urgent treatment centre if urgent but not life threatening to ensure they get the best and most timely care possible this weekend.”
As we visit friends and family we know minor accidents can happen. Urgent Treatment Centres on both London Road behind the BBC building in Nottingham (open 7am – 9pm daily) and at Newark Hospital (open 9am – 9:30pm daily) can treat sprains and fractures that happen when falling off a bike or suffering from a burn. Urgent treatment centres are open at least 12 hours a day, every day and offer appointments that can be booked through NHS 111 online. They are equipped to diagnose and deal with many of the most common ailments people attend our emergency departments for, so please consider using them if it is not life threatening.
Partners across the Integrated Care System are also working closely together to ensure timely discharges of people who no longer need to be in hospital.