How to Access Unscheduled Care

Unscheduled care is the name given to any unplanned health or social care. However, this term is not popularly used or understood amongst most public health providers. Unscheduled care can come in the form of urgent advice, treatment, or help given in emergency conditions. Keep reading to answer the question, “where can I find emergency care near me in Glenrothes Fife?”

What is scheduled care?

On the other hand, scheduled care refers to any planned health or social care that is not categorised as urgent. Scheduled care has a direct impact on unscheduled care and vice versa. Therefore, it would be impossible to provide unscheduled care without giving scheduled care the attention it requires.

Unscheduled care should be provided at any given time of the day or night. The following routes are popular among groups of people who require unscheduled care:

– An urgent appointment with the pharmacist or doctor
– Referral to the pharmacy’s Out of Hours (OOH) service through NHS 24
– Recommendation from NHS 24

Improved services in local pharmacies have made them important channels for people who need unscheduled care, especially during public holidays and weekends. Examples of the resources available to pharmacists are:

– National Patient Group Direction for providing urgent medication, ACBS products, as well as Appliances
– Community Pharmacy Direct Referral to GP services locally
– The NHS Pharmacy First Service that has made the local pharmacy the first stop for treatment of long-term or minor ailments

NHS 24 in emergency care near me in Glenrothes Fife

NHS 24 is a secure and confidential telephone health service that provides advice and referral. It’s connected with all of the 14 NHS boards and the Scottish Ambulance Service. It’s on the receiving end of local calls that are made after working hours or after the GPs are closed for the weekends, public holidays, learning time or in the evenings.

NHS 24 is linked with available health service providers. This enables people who are in need of urgent medical attention to be cared for by the community OOH service providers. Every local NHS board has an obligation to provide local OOH services.

NHS 24 is basically meant to provide patients with the right attention from the right persons at the required time. The local pharmacy is normally the first stop for access to medications and treatment for minor illnesses. It should be able to tell whether the patient requires immediate care or advice.

Delays can be experienced at certain periods during a person’s episode of unscheduled care. The delays can result from certain service providers being slow in response or by complications with the communication channels between the involved people. Most of the delays in the emergency department are caused by the management of the departments involved. It’s important that the people in the emergency section of the medical facilities understand the cause of the delays. This will allow them to put measures in place to sort out the issues in order to streamline the process.

Where can I get emergency care near me in Glenrothes Fife?

The current system of unscheduled care has shown some significant loopholes that are interfering with the smooth running of the system.

Another noticeable gap in the current system of unscheduled care is that there are currently no sufficient and effective local-based service providers to meet the demands of patients with urgent medical requirements. These local-based service providers are crucial as they offer care close to people’s homes and manage minor unscheduled care cases before they get worse. These community-based services are effective in preventing the unnecessary use of more crucial services.

Little progress has been realised when it comes to understanding unscheduled care demand and providing the required services that are able to meet the demand in the community. This situation means that in some regions, it’s nearly impossible to get genuine medical care for persons with physical, mental health or social care needs at certain times during the day and night. The patient is left with very few options in such a situation. This leads to seeking help from acute services such as ambulances and emergency departments. You can visit Cadham Pharmacy to access unscheduled care and emergency services. We have a team of pharmacists ready to attend to you at all times. Check out our previous post on some of our services here:

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Access to unscheduled care & Public engagement (Emergency care near me in Glenrothes Fife)

Most people can have doubts about where and how to get help in case of emergencies because of the complications that come with unscheduled care. There are lots of ways you can get access to help, with different access points, depending on your location.

These issues have also made it hard for health and social care providers to know the kinds of services available during certain times of the day. It makes it difficult to make onward referrals for patients. Creating services against demand, as well as encouraging effective engagement from the public, can help people make the correct choices when it comes to unscheduled care. That’s why we are here to offer you treatment and advice or referral to get the help you need.

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This blog post was written on behalf of Cadham Pharmacy by Pharmacy Mentor.