An interesting innovation has gone live in Gateshead: the website for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital A&E and Blaydon Urgent Treatment Centre now gives up-to-the-minute waiting times. Anyone wanting to be seen can now have an idea of how long they will need to wait. The aim is to encourage people with non-urgent illnesses to go to more appropriate centres, such as pharmacies and walk-in centres.
This is a sensible attempt to get people to use local health resources more effectively and efficiently. A&E centres often find they are treating people with minor ailments and other conditions that are not the results of accidents or are not emergencies. That makes it harder to treat patients with serious conditions. So the addition to the website is a good idea.
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