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The health minister has said there is “no doubt” that the health and social care system is facing a very “difficult winter period”.

On Wednesday, Mike Nesbitt announced a Winter Preparedness Plan, which includes additional funding for GP and residential care homes, phone first services for all trusts, and vaccination programmes.

Marc Neil, director of Unscheduled Care at the South Eastern Trust, told ����ý News NI the public should familiarise themselves with health services ahead of increased pressure on hospitals this winter.

He said that emergency care will still be available but that other treatment options "may be better placed to meet the needs that you've got in a more timely, safe manner".

‘Difficult winter period’

“While there are ongoing pressures across the system all year, it is clear that more people become sicker, for longer, over the winter months. This is particularly true of our older population,” the minister said.

"The planning process for winter gets underway in Springtime, to ensure that we can mitigate, as far as possible, the additional pressures that we know we will face."

Nesbitt said winter measures for this year to keep the population "well in the community" will include the "use of community pharmacy, and measures to protect primary care, hospital care and social care".

“Our emergency departments are open, and they are here 24/7. If you think that you need care and you can't get it somewhere else and you come to ED, we will see you, assess you, treat you, and care for you as best we can," Mr Neil added.

“If you are not critically or clinically the most unwell person in the department, you may have to wait longer than what we want.

He added that there has been "significant investments" in services such as phone first and pharmacy first services.

"It's really important that we want people to have options available for them in the community before they even can consider having to come to hospital."

The British Medical Association's Northern Ireland council chair Dr Alan Stout said "winter pressures are really year long pressures".

"There will be no let up on the need for hospital beds or GP appointments and it will be a struggle to keep up with elective work alongside emergencies and acute need," he said.

"What we really need are medium and long term plans to significantly reignite the planning and funding of our services.

“ We would encourage patients to use the additional services on offer from pharmacies and phone first, to enable optimal patient flow through the system.”

Community Pharmacy NI's Chief Executive Gerard Greene said "community pharmacy is a valuable first port of call for many winter ailments and the clinical expertise of highly trained pharmacists is available on every high street, without an appointment."

"This announcement coincides with Ask Your Pharmacist Week, an annual reminder of the value of community pharmacies in keeping people well in their own communities, with pharmacy teams now delivering the all-important flu and COVID vaccinations to keep people protected this winter.

"With additional resources, community pharmacies can support patients further and help alleviate pressures on GPs and Emergency Departments."