Some Cornwall tourists have been urged not to use local GPs on their holidays to relieve pressure on services. Visitors to Port Isaac, a village made famous by the TV series Doc Martin, have been encouraged to go call their own doctors, visit pharmacies, use minor injury units and call 111 this summer instead.
John Quilter, who produced the leaflet for the Port Isaac Practice Patient Participation Group, stated that hundreds of thousands of visitors come to Cornwall each week during the peak summer season, but “we only have limited healthcare facilities”. The leaflet advises: “Anyone who is visiting Cornwall is asked to call their own GP, and not the one closest to where they’re staying, if they need non-urgent advice.”
It added: “They have all your medical background close to hand. They are used to helping by phone, video, and email. If you need a prescription, your surgery can send it to any pharmacy you choose, for you to collect close to where you are staying”.
Mr Quilter explained: “I wanted to make sure that if visitors do get sick they do have access to healthcare without overloading the facilities that we’ve already got.”
It comes after the NHS said demand at Cornwall’s only major emergency department in Truro surged by 10% every August, and the proportion of non-residents more than doubled.
Nick Hearle, a GP at Port Isaac Surgery, added that “nearly 1,000 appointments every year [were] taken up with temporary residents”.
He added: “Being ill on holiday can be really bad but we always recommend to phone your own GP first because they know your history and have all your records.”
Susan Bracefield, the chief nursing officer at the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board, praised the initiative in Port Issac.
She said: “It’s fantastic what they’re doing in Port Isaac and we’d like more GP practices to spread the message that you don’t want to be waiting for hours in our emergency department in Truro.
“We have a lot of visitors coming into our county and welcome they are too, so we plan for the summer to make sure everyone gets the healthcare they need when they come to the county.”