NHS website stops whingers clogging up the surgeries
100 million visitors can't be wrong
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People using the NHS website to diagnose themselves are saving the organisation millions of pounds in unnecessary doctors' appointments.
NHS Choices received 100 million visitors last year according to its annual report. About 19 million people looked at the site for information on swine 'flu and 40,000 left comments about medical services.
The site also syndicates its content freely to other organisations, including Primary Care Trusts, GPs' surgeries, Boots and Mumsnet. Material on these 150 sites was seen by 25 million people over the year.
Research from Imperial College, based on an online questionnaire completed by 4,000 patients, found that 37 per cent believed using the service reduced their use of GP services. This equates to savings of £44m in unnecessary appointments.
It is also far cheaper: a click on NHS Choices costs 46 pence, compared to £16 for a call to NHS Direct or £32 for a visit to a doctor's surgery.
NHS Choices also began publishing hospital mortality figures on the site. The sites' alcohol tracker was downloaded 35,000 times. ®
COMMENTS
I would guess
I would guess the reason they're reluctant to do this, is that misuse of antibiotics increases the risk of developing drug resistant bacteria.
Anti-biotics are not for viral infections
Antibiotics are for bacterial infections such as when you cut yourself or when you have surgery. They are not for viral infections like colds, flu and so on!!!
The reason why MRSA and other super-bugs are so prevalent is the widespread misuse of antibiotics. They are given to livestock which also doesn't help.
What happens is that (courtesy of evolution) the antibiotics cause the bacteria to adapt to become resistant. There are so few really effective antibiotics available now due to misuse.
If you have a cold or flu then don't take antibiotics, they don't work and they further regress the medical world back to the pre-penicillin days.
antibiotics over the counter without a prescription.
Thats all very well if you know what you're doing, but the rise of antibiotic resistant diseases is due (in a large measure) to people self medicating antibiotics for everything from a cut finger to a cold.
The doctors don't escape blame either as they seem to think if they prescribe a course of pills they have done their job.
At present there is a problem in Indian hospitals with superbugs hitting the western medical tourists, some expert opinion puts this down to the unrestricted sale of antibiotics on the street.
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