The NHS on the Island continues to be under significant pressure and still require Islanders to ‘choose well’.
Staff at the Trust, which manages ambulance, community, hospital and mental health services on the Island has, with the help of GPs, social care staff and voluntary care agencies, maintained services including an expansion in bed capacity to cope with the surge in demand which is being experienced across the country. To date this has been done without declaring a black alert or major incident.
Karen Baker said:
“Additional beds, more nursing, medical and allied health profession staff, and more equipment, were put in place to cover an increase in demand this winter but despite this services are currently still under substantial pressure with more patients than expected requiring admission to hospital.
“We need Islanders to continue to only use the hospital’s A&E Department and Beacon Health Centre if they really need to and consider self care, pharmacies, online advice from NHS Choices at www.nhs.uk or phoning 111 for advice. It is important that advice is sought early before conditions deteriorate and require a visit to A&E.”
Patients may be unaware of the Pharmacy First scheme which allows the free supply of medicines by your pharmacist to treat most minor ailments. This means they can get expert advice and treatment for most minor ailment conditions without the need to see a GP. All consultations are private and the medicine supply is free to those who are eligible for free prescriptions.
Details of pharmacists with early and late opening can be found here.
[alert-note]Common complaints which can be treated at home with advice from the pharmacist include:
- Skin conditions, such as mild acne and mild eczema
- Coughs and colds including nasal congestion and sore throat
- Minor cuts and bruises
- Constipation and haemorrhoids (piles)
- Hay fever and allergies
- Aches, pains, such as headaches, earaches and backaches
- Indigestion, diarrhoea and threadworms
- Period pain and thrush
- Warts and verrucas, mouth ulcer and cold sores
- Athletes foot
- Nappy rash and teething[/alert-note]
[alert-note]Services available from local pharmacies include:
- Emergency contraception
- Stop smoking services
- Minor Ailments
- HIV and Hepatitis testing
- Flu Vaccination – NHS and private services
- Hepatitis B Vaccination
- Stop smoking services
- Pregnancy testing[/alert-note]
Islanders are encouraged to take more care of their health where possible by either asking their local pharmacy staff for advice, looking for advice on line (www.nhs.uk) or self-treating using some basic medicine cabinet essentials.
For emergency dental treatment at weekends and bank holidays, call your own dentist first. If unable to make contact or unregistered on the Isle of Wight, call 0845 0508345, 08:30 to 21:30 every day.
GPs should be visited if you have concerns about a condition that will not go away, or is getting worse. It is important to visit your GP if you have a recurring condition that is affecting your ability to function on a day to day basis.
