The AE patients who could be treated at home

MANY people are visiting A&E at Warrington Hospital who could be treated at home or by getting advice from a local pharmacist.
This has been revealed by NHS Warrington CCG – the body responsible for health spending priorities in the borough – in talks with Richard Short, Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Warrington North.
Mr Short (pictured) said: “With the recent headlines turning the NHS into a political football and Ed Miliband saying he wants to ‘weaponise’ the NHS I investigated to find the truth behind the headlines and the politicking.
“As soon as the news broke that targets were being missed I called for a meeting with the chairman of the Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group, Dr Andrew Davies.
“It was clear that there is no lack of commitment to serve patients to the highest level. It was equally clear that extreme efforts have been made to try and avert delays in A&E. Preparations were made long before with an extra £1.1million of Government money.
“Despite early preparations, additional funding and total staff commitment the unprecedented spike in A&E admissions did lead to delays for some and this is clearly disappointing.
“I urged Dr Davies to redouble efforts to make sure only those in genuine need go to A&E. I was reassured that primary health care in Warrington is not standing still.
“Dr Davies told me about research carried out by the CCG which showed there are many visits to the A&E and GP surgery which could be treated at home or by simply getting advice from a local pharmacist.
“Work will be done to ensure we get the best advice and put ‘self care’ into health care and this has my full support as it will free up valuable time and resources to treat patients in genuine need.
“If you read the political rhetoric you’d be forgiven for thinking the NHS is all but finished. I never doubted the strength and resilience of the NHS and seeing the CCG at work has confirmed to me that the abolition of the top heavy Primary Care Trust, Labour’s failed NHS quango, was the medicine needed to free up local clinicians to make decisions for the benefit of patients.
“NHS funding was and still is protected. This was the Conservative promise at the 2010 General Election. The promise has not only been kept but the Warrington CCG budget will be increased by £8 million.
“I look forward to working very closely with the CCG to make sure patients get the very best care and do all I can to make sure clinical decisions are made by clinicians and not faceless bureaucrats.”