A CAMPAIGN to encourage patients to think before attending an emergency department has been launched by NHS Ayrshire & Arran.

The new movement is part of the larger ‘4Rs’ programme which aims to make sure that the ‘Right patient is seen at the Right place at the Right time with the Right clinician.’

The key message is to educate the public on the most appropriate time to visit an emergency department and what are the available alternatives.

Alan Krichell, an emergency medicine consultant at Ayr Hospital, said: “What we are trying to insure is that someone who is suffering from an emergency condition - something that we at ED deal with - get seen as quickly as possible and we cant do that if we’re seeing lots of people that would be better served else where.

“There are certain conditions that we are very good at dealing with and others we are not and so people would be better seeing a pharmacists for aches and pains, most eye related issues would be dealt with by an optician.

“Even though we could see those with issues with eyes, the opticians have a wider range of skills than we do so may spot something that we may not have the skills or equipment to detect.”

The campaign is aimed to educated the public of what should be dealt with at the emergency department and what can be seen at a local GP surgery.

This means that if you turn up to the emergency department with chest pain or abdomial pain that the patient is not waiting for a long time to get seen.

Alan, added: “Some people may see this as we are turning people away but we want them to get to the right place so they are seeing the right individual and going directly to the right place. That is the whole point of the project - the project isn’t new - we have been doing this for several years but we didn’t have the public part of it before.

“We did have a redirection policy where, when patients first turned up, they would turn up with their condition then they may suddenly find themselves being told that actually you shouldn’t be here, you should be going to someone else.

“I think this can cause problems because people don’t expect this to happen where as with the public education element with this campaign people should be a bit more aware of what aliments they have.

“I think people need to understand that they may be told ‘no you can’t come here, you need to go and see your GP’ or ‘we will get you an out of hours appointment’ or ‘you should go and see an optician.’”

Sharon Deans, a senior charge nurse at the emergency department said: “The biggest challenge for us will be the re-education for the public and just that expectation to what we have done previously and the change.”
Posters will be placed around Ayrshire & Arran outlining what the public should do when they fall ill or need treatment and advice.