Getting the best from our NHS 

Your PCT / Getting the Best from Our NHS

The NHS provides essential services, from everyday care and advice to amazing, life-saving treatment. 

NHS Bolton is working to ensure that the health service resources available for Bolton people are used to get the maximum benefit.  And, we're sure the people of Bolton can help us with this.

For example, you can treat simple coughs and colds using medicines and advice from your local pharmacist, rather than asking your doctor for antibiotics (which wouldn't work anyway).  It's the right treatment, it reduces the NHS prescriptions bill, it saves your GP's time for more urgent issues, and it reduces the risk of more infections gaining resistance to antibiotics.

Here's some more ideas for 'Getting the best from Bolton's NHS'.

Use '999' and Accident and Emergency for real emergencies and major injuries.  (Click here to find out about other options for minor but urgent problems.)

Talk through treatment options with your own GP, and work with them to decide the best option for you. Sometimes a referral to hospital seems the obvious next step, but may not be the only option or the best option.

Sometimes there's a cheaper medicine that works just the same as the one you're used to. Discussing these options with your doctor or pharmacist should mean the NHS in Bolton can get more for its money, which means more care for more people.

Find out which extra hours your own GP practice now opens. Most have at least one late night, early morning or weekend surgery.  Using this option means you can get symptoms checked out early at a time that's convenient to you, and get problems sorted before things get worse.

 

 

 

Getting the best 2