A&E time-wasters cost £80m a year
Date published: 01 November 2010
A GP is urging Oldhamers to think carefully before going to hospital for treatment after figures revealed unnecessary trips to accident-and-emergency departments are costing almost £79.25 million a year.
One in four people turns up to A&E with coughs and colds and other minor conditions at hospitals across the North-West, including the Royal Oldham Hospital.
Accident-and-emergency teams are treating cases such as backache and upset stomachs on a daily basis — conditions that could be managed through a trip to the high-street chemist.
Now NHS staff throughout the region are giving their backing to the Choose Well campaign which aims to tackle the rise in A&E attendances.
Local GP Hugh Sturgess, from Hopwood House medical centre, Lees Road, is backing the campaign.
Dr Sturgess, who is also chairman of NHS Oldham’s clinical executive, said: “The figures are alarming.
“To put it in more practical terms, £79.25 million is the equivalent of 752 GPs — and the cost is rising.
“We need to get back to the message that A&E departments are for life-threatening and emergency conditions, such as heart attacks, strokes, breathing problems and serious accidents.
“North-West hospital A&E teams deal with some of the highest numbers of people who have life-threatening conditions such as heart-attacks, strokes and lung disease in the country. We need to make sure they can concentrate on helping these emergency cases.”
The number of people using A&E — and 999 services — is going up each year in the North-West, with the cost of providing A&E services across the region up by 9 per cent last year (2009-10) to £317 million.
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.
However, the numbers of people using emergency services continues to rise with over 177,000 more people using A&E services in 2009-10 compared to the previous year.
For more information visit the NHS Oldham website at www.oldham.nhs.uk
