Bank holiday advice

Out-of-hours covers anytime from 6.30pm to 8.00am Monday – Friday, all day Saturday and Sunday and all day on a bank holiday.

If you have a health concern that can’t wait for normal opening hours, you may need to contact an out-of-hours healthcare professional. You might like to try some of these methods:

  • Using an online health and symptom checker to assess your health concern.
  • Contacting your surgery or practice and follow their instructions (usually in the message on their answer phone) for contacting their out-of-hours service.
  • Visiting an open pharmacy.
  • Contacting your local Primary Care Trust (PCT).
  • Calling NHS Direct on 0845 4647.
  • Checking the Choose Well tool to see which health service you should go to with your concern.

The NHS Choose Well tool will help you decide where to go, for what concern. It explains what symptoms and issues are covered by each healthcare service. For example, if you have chest pain you should call 999 or visit A&E; if you have ear pain you should see your GP (out-of-hours); if you have a hangover you can care for it yourself.

You can also find your nearest health service (such as your local GP, pharmacy, optician, dentist or hospital) by visiting the local service search, selecting the service you want, entering your post code and clicking ‘find’.

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