Click or call first: accessing health services this winter
Click or Call First highlights the benefits of going online or calling first if your illness or injury is not life-threatening. There is a wide range of health services available.
If you are suffering from an illness that won’t go away, after self-care or advice from the pharmacy, you are advised to Click or Call your GP surgery through their website, the NHS App or by phone.
If you think you may need A&E or to get the right service 24/7, you’re encouraged to click www.111.nhs.uk or call 111. This year a local assessment and advice service run by doctors and nurses will be working alongside the 111 phone service to offer additional expert support.
The 111 phone service can book an appointment for you into local services e.g. GP surgeries, Community Minor Injury and Illness Units, or one of the two A&E Departments if needed.
The local asapglos.nhs.uk website and ASAP Glos NHS App also offer care advice as well as information on all local services and when to use them e.g. Community Pharmacy, GP surgery, the Gloucester Health Access Centre, Community Minor Injury and Illness Units, and A&E.
In Gloucestershire, we want to simplify the way people access advice and support – including through ‘easy to remember’ digital and phone options. The further development of the 111 services this year is a real step forward. The phone service can provide expert advice from nurses and doctors and can book people into local services when needed.
Local GP and urgent care lead at NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, Dr Jeremy Welch
Medical Director at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Prof. Mark Pietroni said:
"We are well aware that it can be difficult to know which service to use if you are ill or injured and it’s not life-threatening. The phone and digital options, including 111, highlighted in this campaign should really help signpost people to the right care in the right place.
We’d like to thank the great majority of local people who are accessing services appropriately and responding to the Click or Call First campaign messages. It’s important we all play our part and carefully consider the range of healthcare options available this winter, particularly for minor injuries and illnesses."