THE dreaded winter pressures on the health service have come early this year, with a 14 per cent spike in patients rushing to Accident and Emergency seen in just a month – many with conditions easily treated elsewhere.

Last Wednesday and Friday saw an abnormally high number of patients admitted to A&E at the GWH, with 250 and 230 people, respectively, turning up to the unit as their first port of call.

This was a major increase from the 197 average reported for a Friday during August and so far in September, and a concerning figure two months before the official start of the winter season.

Already, between August 1 and Sunday, September 21, the hospital had reported an average 216 attendances per day.

Last winter, the most challenging in history for the hospital, saw 27,565 people attend A&E between October and December, and it is feared the number will skyrocket this year unless the public understands where to go to receive appropriate care.

But of these, around 45 per cent were redirected to the hospital’s Urgent Care Centre each day and to Carfax Street Medical Centre.

In the past year, no fewer than 9,000 people with urgent but non life-threatening illnesses were sent to and treated at the Urgent Care Centre from the emergency department.

The key to alleviating pressure on A&E at this early stage and in the long-term was sending out a clear message to patients about their care options, said Andy Ormston, a SEQOL nurse charged with redirecting patients attending A&E to other services when appropriate.

“We get parents bringing children with fevers, any sort of minor injuries, cuts, sprains and strains,” he said.

“Abdominal pain and diarrhoea and vomiting feature high on the list of reasons people come to A&E. These are not appropriate for A&E but we can easily deal with them at the Urgent Care Centre. It might be painful but it’s not life-threatening.

“We have even had patients turn up for a second opinion because they were not happy with what their GP told them.

“Out of 230 patients, potentially half would not have needed to come to A&E.

“If people knew where to go it could make a big difference. It’s about making an informed choice.

“If they can’t make an appointment with their GP that day, just turn up to Carfax Street walk-in centre or the Urgent Care Centre.”

Dispelling the myth that patients would be treated more quickly in A&E and making sure they know the alternatives, was also crucial, according to consultant Dr Stephen Haig.

“People know what the GP or A&E are but we have had an awful lot of services put in place recently that people don’t know about,” he said.

“Getting that knowledge out there is important.

“Already it hasn’t seemed to stop in A&E this year. It has been very busy. We have not seen that big downturn that we were expecting after winter and it’s happening everywhere.

“We have an increase in population and the population is ageing.

“If we can send people to the appropriate stream they can be treated better.”

For more details about alternatives to A&E, visit https://www.nhs.uk/Services/hospitals/ Services/Service/DefaultView.aspx?id=222477