Hunt urges patients to use pharmacies to ease A&E strain

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned the NHS is facing an 'unprecedented demand'. Credit: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned the NHS is facing an "unprecedented demand" and urged people to go to pharmacists for treatment instead.

Hunt has announced a £300 million boost to pay for more staff and extra bed space to cope with the expected spike in A&E patients over the coming months.

But he warned it is "not sustainable" to continue to allow A&E to bear the brunt of this extra strain - as health bosses urged patients to be treated by pharmacists instead.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Britain must 'break the cycle. Credit: Joe Giddens/PA Wire

Hospitals have had to cope with an extra one million visits to A&E every year compared with 2010 and 2,000 extra ambulance journeys a day, he said.

Britain must "break the cycle of continually having to do more to help A&E departments withstand that pressure" by encouraging patients to use other health services, he added.