HEALTH chiefs in south Shropshire are asking people with minor illnesses and injuries to use alternatives to Accident and Emergency, to ease pressures as hospitals continue to recover from the national incident affecting NHS IT systems.

Only minor isolated issues were reported in GP Practices and they have applied their business continuity plans and therefore patients will be able to access care as normal.

Although all clinical systems are now back online, NHS bosses asked people to access all NHS services wisely to allow the local system to focus on those people with serious conditions, who need to be seen urgently, as organisations return to normal working.

It will also prevent patients with non-critical illnesses from having long waits before they can be treated.

There a range of alternative services available across Shropshire for non-critical conditions, including GPs, Shropdoc, Minor Injuries Units, walk-in centres and pharmacies.

“As our hospital's return to normal following the incident which affected IT systems, I'd urge people to only go to A&E if they have a serious, life-threatening condition,” said Dr Julian Povey chair at the NHS Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group.

Other services available include Shropdoc on 0333 222 66 55, walk-in-centres, minor injuries units and pharmacists.

There is also useful information on symptoms and treatments on the NHS Choice website at www.nhs.uk