Plea to Hucknall and Bulwell folk to help protect NHS services

With heightened demand from the public, staff shortages and Covid, it is more vital than ever members of the public choose the right service.

And that means don’t automatically go to A&E, instead dial 111 if it isn’t an emergency..

Dr James Hopkinson, clinical leader of the NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “Our services are under a significant amount of pressure and we are seeing long waiting times at our A&E departments.

"We need the public’s help now more than ever to protect our services for those that need urgent care.

“We are seeing an increasing number of Covid-19 cases across the county and this is being reflected in our hospitals. In order to protect our patients in hospital we need to reduce the risk of Covid-19 being spread within our health settings and this is why we need the public to think twice about accessing our services if they don’t need to be there.

“We know the public are incredible in their support of the NHS and our ask is simple, please think about how you use our services, wear a mask and do a lateral flow test before entering our health settings.

“Our hospital staff are working incredibly hard to see everyone in a timely way, but when demand is so high, patients may have to wait longer than we would like whilst we prioritise our sickest patients.”

There are three urgent treatment centres which health bosses are urging the public to attend instead of going to hospital. These are on London Road in Nottingham, Primary Care 24 at King’s Mill Hospital, Sutton, and Newark Urgent Treatment Centre in Boundary Road.

For other non-emergencies, the public can also contact their GP surgery or visit their local pharmacist. For any uncertainty please contact NHS 111 by calling 111 or visit the NHS website.

To help further, do not go to hospital to get a Covid-19 test. Those who are symptomatic should stay at home and go to the Government website or call 119 to book an appointment or order a home test kit.