Appeal for borough people to use services wisely

Dr Mitch Garsin, a GP and spokesman for urgent care at Hillingdon Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “Winter is here and the common health problems that come with it are already putting a strain on some of our core services.

“The A&E and urgent care centres at Hillingdon Hospital are seeing big increases in the numbers arriving through the door on foot.

“It’s those people, coming in on foot for non-emergency/urgent problems, who we’re asking to think twice about other NHS services which could help.

“GP practices can often give same-day treatment, particularly for children.

“Pharmacies are open every day across the borough and the NHS 111 phone line is open 24/7 as a first port of call for advice.

“For everyday health problems, these are the right choices and help the emergency teams in the hospital give their full attention to seriously ill people.”

Visits to Hillingdon Urgent Care Centre have been increasing significantly; spiking at more than 350 on Sunday.

The centre was originally set up to help an average of 180 patients a day. Numbers being seen at A&E are also rising and there have been days when activity has increased by 30%.

Dr Garsin said: “We’re putting more capacity into the urgent care centre, but we do also need local people to use the alternatives that are there.”

Trevor Begg, patient representative at Hillingdon CCG, added: “As patients, we have a vested interest in helping our NHS. Each time we turn up at A&E or an urgent care centre with a minor problem, we put a strain on the doctors and nurses working round the clock to treat critically ill patients.

“One day, that critically ill person could be any one of us or a loved one. If that happened, we would want the NHS emergency teams totally focussed on our care, not also having to deal with coughs, colds and hangovers.”

There is more information about services, including pharmacies, open through the holidays, at www.hillingdonccg.nhs.uk/rightcare