20 May 2012
News Categories
Business
Financial
Food and Drink
Healthcare
Manufacturing
Property
Shopping
Technology
2 February 2011
Victoria NHS Commuter Walk-in Centre offers advice on urgent treatment choices
Staff at Victoria NHS Commuter Walk-in Centre, run by Care UK, are urging people to be aware of their options when requiring medical treatment, in the light of new A&E statistics.
This week’s NHS Information Centre report on A&E visits in 2009/2010 revealed that around 3.9million visits – about two in five – ended with the patient receiving just advice and no actual treatment. Many of these patients would be able to receive an equivalent level of guidance from their local pharmacy, registered GP or local walk-in service without the need to visit an A&E department, which would help to reduce waiting times for more serious cases, particularly at busy times such as Monday mornings.
“There are lots of options available for people requiring urgent care, and while A&E may still be considered by many as their first point of call, other NHS services, such as walk-in services with extended opening hours can play a vital role in ensuring patients are seen quickly and receive the very best advice and treatment for minor injuries and illnesses,” said Derek Witt, General Manager for Victoria NHS Commuter Walk-in Centre.
“It’s important for people to be aware of all available services such as NHS Direct, GP walk-in centres, minor injury units and urgent care centres and have their contact details to hand, so that in an urgent case, health professionals can assess the situation and direct patients to choose the right NHS service. Emergencies do occur and potentially life threatening situations or symptoms such as very serious pain, loss of consciousness, broken bones or chest pain that might represent a heart attack are still matters for your local A&E.”
The full A&E report can be read on the HES Online website.
This week’s NHS Information Centre report on A&E visits in 2009/2010 revealed that around 3.9million visits – about two in five – ended with the patient receiving just advice and no actual treatment. Many of these patients would be able to receive an equivalent level of guidance from their local pharmacy, registered GP or local walk-in service without the need to visit an A&E department, which would help to reduce waiting times for more serious cases, particularly at busy times such as Monday mornings.
“There are lots of options available for people requiring urgent care, and while A&E may still be considered by many as their first point of call, other NHS services, such as walk-in services with extended opening hours can play a vital role in ensuring patients are seen quickly and receive the very best advice and treatment for minor injuries and illnesses,” said Derek Witt, General Manager for Victoria NHS Commuter Walk-in Centre.
“It’s important for people to be aware of all available services such as NHS Direct, GP walk-in centres, minor injury units and urgent care centres and have their contact details to hand, so that in an urgent case, health professionals can assess the situation and direct patients to choose the right NHS service. Emergencies do occur and potentially life threatening situations or symptoms such as very serious pain, loss of consciousness, broken bones or chest pain that might represent a heart attack are still matters for your local A&E.”
The full A&E report can be read on the HES Online website.
Notes to editors
Care UK is the largest independent provider of health and social care services in the UK. Over the course of a year, Care UK cares for approximately half a million people.Health Care
Care UK is the largest independent sector provider of both primary and secondary care services to NHS patients:
Over 40 primary care sites (including GP and walk-in services, out of hours, diagnostics centres, clinical assessment & treatment services and prison health services).
Eight hospitals that specialise in elective (non-urgent) surgery with exceptional clinical outcomes and no cases of hospital acquired MRSA.
Our healthcare services achieve best in class levels of patient satisfaction with over 94% of patients rating our service quality as excellent or good.
Social Care
Care UK provides care for older people and people with complex needs in both residential and community based settings. In the past 12 months, Care UK delivered:
3,500+ care home places for older people (across 57 care homes)
1,000+ specialist care places across 250 locations; and
115,000 hours per week of domiciliary care to c.14,000 service users.
CQC ratings for quality of service remain at industry-leading levels. 96% of homes and 94% of home care services are rated excellent or good.
Integrating Health and Social Care
Care UK specialises in bringing care from traditional higher cost settings to more accessible, lower cost community centric settings and is uniquely placed to deliver increasingly integrated health and social care solutions.
For more information about Care UK, see www.careuk.com Back to top | More Care UK stories
