Out of Hours Service Changes A Government initiative which will take pressure off GPs by handing over responsibility for out-of-hours services to primary care trusts will have little effect on the public. A new initiative is now operating since April 2004, but there has been significant cahnge which came into operation on the 1st April 2010. Here is some useful information about what is happening and why. There are also some tips about how to make the best use of the PCTs' minor injuries services. The Out of Hours Service telephone number is 0300 111 5717 Choose the right service Out-of-hours care. Your guide to getting the out-of-hours NHS treatment you need, when you need it. click here

Duvet day or emergency?
Choose well to get the right treatment

You’ve shut your finger in a door and think it might be broken. You’ve got a really bad cold and it might even be flu. It’s ten o’clock at night and your three-year-old is screaming with earache. Your elderly mother has fallen downstairs and lost consciousness. Do you call A&E, an out-of-hours GP, go to a Minor Injury Unit or wait until it goes away?

Each of these common medical situations has a different solution. In the first instance, you should go to an Minor Injury Unit. In the second, take a paracetamol and curl up somewhere warm with lots of tissues. The three-year-old needs a call to the out-of-hours service and a fall leading to a loss of consciousness means call 999 at once.

Making the right choice is important for you, so NHS Wiltshire has produced Choose Well – a webpage and leaflet that act as a simple, handy guide to getting the right treatment.

The webpage  – www.wiltshirepct.nhs.uk/choosewell, along with a new Wiltshire-wide service for out-of-hours medical and dental services, provided by a  local company, Wiltshire Medical Services. Click on the website, or pick up a leaflet at your doctor’s surgery, library or other public building, to find out who to call when.

In an emergency (eg serious injury, loss of consciousness, chest pain or suspected stroke), patients should always phone 999 or 112.
For healthcare advice over the phone, NHS Direct is available on 0845 4647.

Useful Links
	NHS Direct www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk Tel 0845 4647 NHS Direct is a 24 hour nurse led telephone advice and information service and is part of the National Health Service. Your gateway to health advice on the internet