Dr Helen Webberley, our dedicated GP, was featured on Radio Five Live

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Oxford Online Pharmacy's dedicated GP, Dr Helen Webberley, was a guest on Radio Five Live Drive recently, giving her thoughts on the latest crisis to hit our hospitals and the role patients can play in helping to heal the NHS.

Her argument is a simple one: we have a problem that needs to be addressed, but unless patients take their share of the responsibility, the situation will never improve.

Dr Helen argues that people think nothing of turning up to A&E to check out sprains that have been there for weeks, a tiny bump on the head, in case it is a 'head injury', a bump in the car which needs reporting, as there may be the possibility for a cash for whiplash claim, earache or a rash that they didn't have time to see their GP about. The list goes on, and all of these non-emergencies take up valuable staff time which should be spent dealing with patients who really need emergency assistance.

It’s time to stop ignoring the elephant in the room: The NHS is being massively overused for things that don't really need a doctor or a nurse and could be managed at home, with a little input from your local pharmacy. We all need to take responsibility to ensure our NHS makes a speedy recovery so that it is there when we truly need it.

You can listen to the entire conversation here. Dr Helen's interview starts at 02:17:15.