Healthcare support over winter

Campaign to ensure people know how to get help.

Advice on how to get the right healthcare in the right setting this winter is the focus of an annual campaign launching today (Monday).

This year’s Right Care Right Place Campaign will run across TV, radio, press and digital platforms. It aims to ensure people can get the right care, while also reducing pressures on frontline health services.

As the weather turns colder, Scotland’s NHS and social care services get busier and the awareness campaign helps the public decide whether they should contact their GP or pharmacy, call NHS 24 on 111 or use self-help guides on the NHS Inform website. It reminds everyone that hospital emergency departments should only be visited for critical emergencies.

Pressure on the healthcare system increases in winter months, and the Right Care Right Place campaign helps everyone know where they can go for advice or care for any health concerns during this busy period.

Of course, people can also help by making sure they receive their Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), Covid-19 and flu vaccinations if they’re eligible. This is even more important this year, as early evidence suggests it could be a particularly challenging flu season.

We are taking a range of measures to ensure our health service is as resilient as possible over the next few months and that our committed health and social care staff are supported. We know that staff members work tirelessly to provide excellent care to all those who need it and as always, I’d like to thank them for their continued dedication.

– HEALTH SECRETARY, NEIL GRAY

Background

Right care right place | NHS inform

Self-help guides on NHS inform include advice on the most common winter illnesses.

As part of winter planning, nearly £1m in additional funding has been provided for the Scottish Ambulance Service to support enhancement of its clinical hub, the expansion of patient transport hubs and additional Hospital Ambulance Liaison Officers. This is to cut unnecessary ambulance dispatches while improving patient outcomes and experiences through earlier clinical intervention.

NHS 24 has also implemented a new call centre system to improve both staff and patient experience and £20 million has been allocated for health board initiatives to increase social care capacity and relieve pressure on acute services.