NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is supporting a new campaign called The earlier, the better that has been launched by NHS England to encourage people to seek help early on from their local pharmacist if they’re feeling under the weather.

It’s especially important over the winter months that elderly people tell a friend, family member or carer if they have a bad cough, cold or sore throat to prevent it getting worse.

Dr Mark Hayes, Chief Clinical Officer at NHS Vale of York CCG, said: “It’s easy to forget that our local pharmacists can provide expert guidance on how to help manage long term conditions, or give advice on the best treatment for a cough or cold.

“It’s essential that older people seek help as soon as possible to prevent a trip to hospital if their condition gets worse, the earlier, the better.”

This winter, NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has already been working closely with its partners to launch a number of schemes across the Vale of York to help local healthcare services to be ‘winter-proof’.

Dr Andrew Phillips, the CCG lead for the Urgent Care Programme said: “We are piloting a range of schemes to help better support patients in the most appropriate settings.

“The winter period brings increased demands on hospital services. The pressure on A&E departments continues to increase and up to 50% of presentations are for minor symptoms that could have been treated elsewhere.

“We are working hard to address these challenges together and the local health and social care service providers have been working on winter plans and developing schemes to enhance and support local services to provide the best standard of care possible.”

The earlier, the better campaign asks those caring for or visiting an elderly relative to get advice from their local pharmacist or from www.nhs.uk/asap to prevent a minor illness developing into something more serious.

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