{"id":398038,"date":"2026-01-07T18:17:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T18:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/398038\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T18:17:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T18:17:11","slug":"nhs-urges-people-to-help-ease-winter-pressure-during-busiest-week-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/398038\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS urges people to help ease winter pressure during busiest week"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emma ElgeeWest of England <\/p>\n

\"PAPA Media<\/p>\n

NHS services are expecting the first week of January to be their busiest of the year <\/p>\n

NHS services are asking for public support for what is expected to be the busiest week of the year.<\/p>\n

The NHS in Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire has said the pressures of extreme cold weather and a bad flu season will make the start of the year challenging. <\/p>\n

It is asking the public to think about which healthcare provider is most suited to their needs to help ease pressure points. <\/p>\n

Dr Amanda Webb, chief medical officer for BANES, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), said the local NHS runs on a combination of “robust planning and sheer resilience”.<\/p>\n

She added: “While we do all we can behind the scenes to keep services running, its the support of the public that can turn a very challenging situation into something much more manageable.<\/p>\n

“There are so many health and care options available now, most of which can be accessed in seconds through either a smartphone or tablet, and we need these to be people’s first port of call whenever it is they feel that help is needed.” <\/p>\n

People are being reminded that NHS 111 is available 24\/7 online and can be a good place to check if you are not sure which healthcare service you need. <\/p>\n

Similar help for minor injury and illness can also be sought from community pharmacies but people should still call 999 if they are experiencing a medical emergency. <\/p>\n

Dr Trevor Smith, medical director for NHS England South West, said the pressures were being felt across the region but teams were coping well so far.<\/p>\n

He said: “We’ve planned for this but we are certainly at a time now where all our services are under the most significant pressure of the winter period.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Dr Trevor Smith says there are some hotspots of pressures at GP surgeries and A&E <\/p>\n

Smith added: “There are some inevitable delays because of those peaks in demand and pressures so I’d ask people to bare with us.<\/p>\n

“Hotspots are into GP surgeries and into emergency departments – that is why it’s really important to think through whether accessing care through 111 might be a suitable option.”<\/p>\n

He stressed though that seriously unwell people should continue to call 999 or go to A&E.<\/p>\n

The ICB added that healthy people can do their part through practicing good hand hygiene which can prevent the spread of winter viruses, flu and norovirus. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emma ElgeeWest of England PA Media NHS services are expecting the first week of January to be their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,137,500],"class_list":{"0":"post-398038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}