NHS England has re-launched a campaign encouraging elderly patients to seek early advice from their pharmacist in response to a hike in A&E admissions, C+D has learned.
 
The Feeling Under The Weather campaign, which originally launched in October and ended last week (January 8), encouraged patients aged 65 or older to seek early advice from their pharmacist if they felt unwell.
 
The second “burst” of the campaign launched yesterday (January 13) and will run until March 1, NHS England told C+D. The decision to further "encourage older people to nip problems in the bud" had been made in response to some of the highest emergency admissions the commissioning body had ever seen, it said.

The initial campaign featured adverts in the national press and on websites, and NHS England said the second campaign would have the same level of coverage.
 
NHS England’s announcement follows reports that some hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were urging patients to visit their pharmacist after they faced “unprecedented” pressure this winter. According to data released by the Department of Health (DH) last week, 70,000 more patients in England had visited A&E in the previous fortnight than in the same period last year.

Last week (January 9), NHS Alliance chair Mike Dixon said nationally commissioned schemes for minor ailments and long-term conditions were needed to allow pharmacists to "drastically reduce" pressure on GPs and A&E departments. PSNC also stressed the role pharmacy could play in reducing winter pressures on the health service, in letters sent to The Times and health secretary Jeremy Hunt last week.
 
Marketing materials for the Feeling Under The Weather campaign, including posters and leaflets, are available to download from the NHS website.