GPs pile pressure on AE by refusing to look at minor injuries

SOME GP practices in Warrington are piling pressure on the town’s A&E department by refusing to look at even minor injuries, a senior councillor has claimed.
Cllr Paul Campbell, Conservative Parliamentary spokesman for Warrington North and a member of Culcheth and Glazebury Parish Council, says other GPs might be unknowingly adding to the problem because of the time it takes to get an appointment to see them.
Cllr Campbell (pictured) said recent local and national publicity indicated that A&E departments at NHS hospitals were under pressure.
Various reasons were given as to why this was the case but he had recently been contacted by a number of residents with their own personal stories which might add to the debate.
Cllr Campbell said: “One resident contacted me to say that he had recently visited his local GP surgery as a cotton bud had become lodged in his inner ear.
“He was surprised when his local practice nurse refused to even look at it and told him to go to Warrington Hospital A&E.
“At A&E he waited less than one hour before being seen by a nurse who took approximately 10 seconds to remove the cotton bud.
“Residents regularly contact me to complain of long delays in trying to get an appointment with their local GP and instead go to A&E to be seen quickly.
“Such instances as these are putting undue and unnecessary pressures on our local NHS A&E departments.
“I know that Warrington Hospital has invested a lot of money and effort in A&E ensuring patients get the quality of service they need.
“However, some of our GPs are unknowingly adding to these pressures when instances arise like the ones I have been told about.
“As some GPs are refusing to look at even minor injuries, patients are finding they have to use their local A&E even more than ever. Local GP surgeries need to assess the cost factors which will impact on everyone and not just on their local practices.”