Unnecessary Visits to A&E Cost Region’s Hospitals £79.25 million a Year
Unnecessary Visits to A&E Cost North West Hospitals £79.25 million a Year
Figures released today, show the toll that unnecessary visits to
our region’s hospitals are taking. One out of every four
people who go to A&E don’t need to be there, at a cost of
£79.25 million a year – and the cost is rising. NHS staff
throughout the region are giving their backing to the
Choose
Well campaign, that aims to tackle the rise in A&E
attendances.
The number of people using A&E – and 999 services – is going up year on year in the North West. New services have been introduced, such as walk-in centres, minor injuries units and urgent care centres in many areas, and have helped to ease some of the pressure; but the numbers of people using emergency services continues to rise.
A&E teams are faced with having to deal with cases such as coughs and colds, backache and upset stomachs on a daily basis – conditions that could be dealt with through a trip to the high-street chemist.
“Through Choose Well we want re-educate people about using the right service to get the right treatment. We’ve introduced a “traffic light” system to highlight the appropriate services to use. We really need to get local people on our side with this issue – how can we get people to respect A&E services?