The Urgent Care Centre at Blackpool Victoria Hospital
The winter months can be challenging for the NHS, especially for urgent care services.
Nationally there is an understanding that more needs to be done to encourage people to use the correct health services and to be prepared for winter.
The key to the NHS working well this winter is for the public to use services appropriately; not going to A&E unless it is a life-threatening emergency, going to the urgent treatment centres or booking an appointment with your GP and remembering to cancel it if you can’t get to it. Taking care of yourself and speaking to the pharmacist for remedies for minor illnesses instead of going to the GP. Help us help you!
Here are some of the options available to you on the Fylde Coast that will help you stay well this winter and help you to understand which services will get you the best treatment.
Self-care
Sometimes the best thing for minor ailments is simply to stay in bed and have lots of fluids. A simple cough or cold will clear up after just a couple of days with nothing more than some cough mixture and some hot lemon and honey.
For tips on ways to look after yourself go to www.nhs.uk
If you have a medical condition where you take regular medication don’t forget to order your repeat prescriptions before Christmas and New Year so you know you won’t run out.
Make sure you get your flu jab. If you’re any one of the following you’ll get the vaccination for free:
- Aged over 65
- Have a long term medical condition
- Children aged 2 and 3
- Children in reception class and school years 1-5 (This is being given to children in schools across the Fylde Coast)
- Pregnant
Pharmacies
Pharmacists are experts on medication and what treatment you need for many minor ailments. Don’t forget that GPs and nurses won’t generally give you a prescription for things like cough medicine or pain killers (paracetamol) so there’s no point going to your GP. Just go straight to your community pharmacist and buy the medicines over the counter. They’re cheap, you’ll save yourself a lot of time waiting for a GP appointment and we will be able to save appointments for people who are more seriously ill.
Some pharmacies close over the Christmas and New Year Bank Holidays. Here are the ones that are open across the Fylde coast.
| Blackpool | ||
| Holiday | Pharmacy | Opening hours |
| Christmas Eve | All pharmacies will be open as normal but they may close early. Please check with your local pharmacist. | |
| Christmas Day | Whitegate Pharmacy, Whitegate Health Centre, 150-158 Whitegate Drive, Blackpool, FY3 9ES | 8am – 9pm |
| Boxing Day | Whitworth Chemists Ltd 80b Charles Street, Blackpool, FY1 3JJ | 8am – 5pm |
| Well Blackpool – Grasmere Road 8 Grasmere Road, Blackpool, Lancashire FY1 5HU | 9am – 7pm | |
| Pharmisense 118 Adelaide Street, Blackpool, Lancashire FY1 4LN | 9am – 1pm and 2pm – 6pm | |
| Whitworth Chemists Ltd 292-294 Waterloo Road, Blackpool, Blackpool, FY4 3AG | 11am – 4pm | |
| Well Pharmacy, Cherry Tree Road, Marton, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY4 4QH | 9am – 6pm | |
| Boots, 28-38 Bank Hey St, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY1 4TE | 9am – 5.30pm | |
| Lloyds Pharmacy, Redbank Road, Bispham, Blackpool, FY2 9HY | 10am – 1pm and 2pm-4pm | |
| Whitegate Pharmacy, Whitegate Health Centre, 150-158 Whitegate Drive, Blackpool, FY3 9ES | 8am – 9pm | |
| New Year’s Eve | All pharmacies will be open as normal but they may close early. Please check with your local pharmacist. | |
| New Year’s Day | Well Blackpool – Grasmere Road 8 Grasmere Road, Blackpool, Lancashire FY1 5HU | 9am – 7pm |
| Pharmisense 118 Adelaide Street, Blackpool, Lancashire FY1 4LN | 10am – 1pm and 2pm – 6pm | |
| Well Cherry Tree Road, Marton, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY4 4HQ | 9am-6pm | |
| Boots, 28-38 Bank Hey St, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY1 4TE | 10am – 5pm | |
| Lloyds Pharmacy, Redbank Road, Bispham, Blackpool, FY2 9HY | 10am – 1pm and 2pm – 4pm | |
| Whitegate Pharmacy, Whitegate Health Centre, 150-158 Whitegate Drive, Blackpool, FY3 9ES | 8am- 9pm | |
| Fylde and Wyre | ||
| Christmas Eve | All pharmacies will be open as normal but they may close early. Please check with your local pharmacist. | |
| Christmas Day | O’Briens Pharmacy, Health and Wellbeing Centre, Dock Street, Fleetwood FY7 6HP | 10am – 1pm |
| Well Pharmacy, Trinity Medical Centre, Douglas Drive, Freckleton PR4 1RY | 10am- 1pm | |
| Kepple Lane Pharmacy, Kepple Lane, Garstang, Lancashire PR3 1PB | 10am – 1pm | |
| Boxing Day | Smiths Chemist Smiths Pharmacy, 108a Warton Street, Lytham St Annes, Lancashire FY8 5HA | 10am – 4pm |
| Albert Wilde The Pharmacy West View Health Village, Broadway, Fleetwood, Lancashire FY7 8GU | 9am – 6pm | |
| Lloyds Pharmacy, St Andrews Road North, Lytham St Annes, FY8 2DH | 9am – 5pm | |
| Boots, 39 Victoria Road West, Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire, FY5 1BS | 10am – 4pm | |
| Boots, 3-5 St. Annes Road West, Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire, FY8 1SB | 10am – 4pm | |
| Morrisons Pharmacy, Wm Morrison Sp’Market Plc, Amounderness Way, Cleveleys, Blackpool, Thornton, FY5 3TS | 10am – 4pm | |
| New Year’s Eve | All pharmacies will be open as normal but they may close early. Please check with your local pharmacist. | |
| New Year’s Day | Smiths Chemist Smiths Pharmacy, 108a Warton Street, Lytham St Annes, Lancashire FY8 5HA | 10am – 4pm |
| Albert Wilde The Pharmacy West View Health Village, Broadway, Fleetwood, Lancashire FY7 8GU | 10.30am – 4.30pm | |
| Lloyds Pharmacy, St Andrews Road North, Lytham St Annes, FY8 2DH | 9am – 5pm | |
| Morrisons Pharmacy, Wm Morrison Sp’Market Plc, Amounderness Way, Cleveleys, Blackpool, Thornton, FY5 3TS | 10am – 4pm | |
GP and healthcare appointments
Your GP practices will be open as normal if you have a health concern that you are worried about or has lasted longer than expected. As with all businesses practices will be closed on the bank holidays.
If you have a GP appointment please don’t forget to go and if you decide on the day that you no longer need the appointment or if you can’t go for any reason please let your practice know so they can give your appointment to someone who might be urgently waiting.
Outside of normal business hours you can call your GP practice and they will divert you to an out of hours service for advice.
Evening and weekend appointments
You can now make an appointment to see a GP or healthcare professional in the evening and weekends. We have arranged for additional appointments to be provided outside normal GP practice hours by the Fylde Coast Integrated Urgent Care Service. This means you can make an appointment at a time that is more convenient to you. It also means that more appointments are available so you should get an appointment sooner.
The appointments are available until 8pm on weekdays and from 8am-8pm on Saturdays and Sundays. They are held at either the Whitegate Drive Health Centre in Blackpool, Freckleton Health Centre or Fleetwood Health and Wellbeing Centre.
The service offers pre-bookable, routine primary care appointments with a range of clinicians including GPs, nurses and health care assistants.
Please be aware that this is not a walk-in service – you must have an appointment.
The service employs local clinicians from the Fylde coast, where possible.
To book an appointment simply call your GP practice as normal and ask them to book one for you. If your GP practice isn’t open then call 01253 952950.
Urgent Treatment Centres
There are two urgent treatment centres on the Fylde coast, which open seven days a week, from 8am until 8pm.
Both centres offer pre-bookable appointments via NHS111, and walk-in appointments. They are ideal if you need immediate attention with sprains or strains, minor cuts and injuries or if you are feeling unwell.
Since the centres operate for walk-in appointments be prepared to wait a while before being seen. You will be seen according to the severity of your condition not the order in which you arrive. However, you will most likely be seen quicker than if you went to A&E.
Whitegate Drive Health Centre
Whitegate Drive, Blackpool, FY3 9ES
Fleetwood Health and Wellbeing Centre
Dock Street, Fleetwood FY7 6HP.
NHS 111
NHS111 is a free service available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You should contact NHS111 if you urgently need medical help or information but your situation is not life-threatening.
To contact NHS111 please dial 111 or visit the new website 111.nhs.uk.
A&E
A&E (accident and emergency) departments treat patients with serious or life-threatening illnesses and injuries. You should only call 999 or visit A&E in an emergency.
If you attend A&E with a non-emergency condition do not be offended if you are advised to visit another service. There is an Urgent Care Centre next to A&E and you may be asked to go there instead. You may be assessed and told to go elsewhere or make an appointment with your GP. A&E will be kept free to treat those in need of care for serious life-threatening injuries and illnesses, or emergencies.