We need better ways to education patients over A&E visits and GP appointments - Yorkshire Post letters

From: A Ward, Leeds.
What can be done to ease the pressure on A&E departments?What can be done to ease the pressure on A&E departments?
What can be done to ease the pressure on A&E departments?

IN response to correspondence on the NHS, there would be 
more sense in finding better ways to educate people about when to visit their GP, what is urgent enough to warrant a 
visit to A&E and when a pharmacist could answer any questions.

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Only the other night there
 was a TV programme about 24 hours in a busy hospital, and there was a young woman visiting A&E with her father, having suffered from a sore throat for five days.

A medic talks to a patient at Doncaster Royal Infirmary.A medic talks to a patient at Doncaster Royal Infirmary.
A medic talks to a patient at Doncaster Royal Infirmary.

This wasn’t an emergency but could have been dealt with by her GP, and it was the ideal opportunity to make the point to the viewers. Presumably the nurse wasn’t allowed to say this to the patient –on camera, at least.

I’m sure frontline staff at all our hospitals do their best to make it clear to people that there are alternatives, but when this sort of misinformation is shown on a TV programme it just perpetuates the idea that 
the local A&E department is there for every little ache and pain.

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For a small portion of cash, posters and leaflets could be printed in all languages.

Apart from easing the pressure on hospitals, it has to be good for the patient.

Who wants to sit for hours in a hospital waiting room?