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Need Urgent Care?

On this page you will find information on how to get urgent care for yourself or someone else:

111 telephone service

111 is the free-to-call number for people to access the right care from the correct professional 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It brings together NHS Direct Wales and GP out-of-hours services.

How it works:

  • Your call will be answered by an experienced and highly-trained call handler who will ask a series of questions which will help them to identify the urgency of the call. 
  • Those calls will go to a nurse advisor for telephone triage. They will provide advice on the care that is needed whether that be self care or referral on to another service such as an out-of-hours GP appointment, Minor Injury Unit or Emergency Department.
  • A special team of GPs, nurses and pharmacists are also available during evenings and weekends to deal with certain calls including those about minor illnesses or medicine management.
  • Please switch off WiFi calling if you are using a mobile phone, as this app prevents the service  recognising your location, so you may have difficulties getting through to the Welsh 111 service. Please use your normal mobile phone provider service instead to ring 111.

Below you will find further advice on how to receive care for minor conditions/dental care or to find your local NHS service

 
Pharmacies/chemists

Visiting your local pharmacy is a great way to access prompt advice and treatments for common conditions, especially after GP surgeries have closed for the day and on the weekends.

Some of the work traditionally done by GPs is now done by pharmacists instead. This includes giving prescription-only medications for a number of minor ailments when necessary without the need to see a doctor. And, like other medications in Wales, these are also free.

You have to register with the pharmacy to use the scheme, but the process only takes a few minutes. 

Consultations are carried out in a private room and if the pharmacist decides you still need to see a doctor they will refer you.

For more information on the Common Ailments Scheme, please follow this link.

Common ailments covered by the scheme
  • Acne
  • Athletes' foot
  • Back pain
  • Chickenpox
  • Cold sores
  • Colic
  • Constipation
  • Dermatitis
  • Diarrhoea
  • Dry eyes
  • Eye infections
  • Hay fever
  • Head lice
  • Indigestion
  • Ingrowing toenail
  • Intertrigo
  • Mouth ulcers
  • Nappy rash
  • Oral thrush
  • Piles
  • Ring worm
  • Scabies
  • Sore throat
  • Teething
  • Threadworm
  • Vaginal thrush
  • Verruca

 

Dentists

 

If tooth or gum pain develops contact your own dentist as they can provide emergency treatment.

If you are not registered with a practice or develop a problem outside of normal working hours ring 111 and they will help you find your nearest emergency dentist.

If you receive urgent dental treatment the charge will be £14 unless you are exempt from paying NHS charges. If you do not have to pay for treatment, you will be asked to provide evidence of this when you attend the practice.

Toothache on its own (for example, toothache with no other accompanying symptoms or signs) is not a dental emergency.  Patients with toothache should not attend an Emergency Department.

Opticians

Your local optician can provide emergency appointments.

Physiotherapy

Go to this page for contact details and information on how to access outpatient physiotherapy.

Sexual health

The sexual health services helpline is open Monday to Thursday, 8am to 4.30pm and Friday 8am to 2pm. Tel: 0300 5550279. 

Go to this page for more information on our sexual health services, guides to STIs and contraception and our Pregnancy Advisory Service.

Minor injury

Adults and children over the age of one who have had an accident within the last couple of weeks can be seen at the Minor Injury Unit at Neath Port Talbot Hospital,

It is open between 7.30am and 11.00pm, seven days a week, at Neath Port Talbot Hospital, Baglan Way, Port Talbot, SA12 7BX. Contact number: 01639 862160

An experienced team of specially-trained emergency nurse practitioners, triage nurses and health care support workers treat patients for minor conditions including:

  • cuts and minor burns
  • sprains and strains
  • broken bones
  • dislocation of the shoulder, fingers and toes
  • head and facial injuries with no loss of consciousness and the patient is not taking anticoagulant (blood thinner) medication.
  • neck injuries, where you are mobile with no pins and needles in your arms
  • back injuries where you are mobile and the pain has not occurred from you twisting your back or lifting something
  • foreign bodies to eyes, ears and nose
  • non-penetrating eye and ear injuries
  • rib injuries where you are not coughing up blood and you don’t have a chest infection
  • bites (insect, animal or human)
  • insect stings
  • assaults.

The team CANNOT TREAT:

  • symptoms of Covid-19
  • colds, coughs, sore throats, earache, rashes, temperatures
  • urinary infections, cystitis or catheter problems
  • dental problems
  • accident with injury to abdomen/stomach
  • chest pain
  • breathing problems
  • stroke
  • painful limbs, joints or backs
  • skin complaints including boils and rashes
  • wounds that have not been caused during an accident.
Singleton Minor Injury Unit

Please be aware that the Minor Injury Unit at Singleton Hospital is temporarily closed, pending consideration by the health board and Community Health Council on the way forward.

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Rydym yn croesawu gohebiaeth a galwadau ffôn yn y Gymraeg neu'r Saesneg. Atebir gohebiaeth Gymraeg yn y Gymraeg, ac ni fydd hyn yn arwain at oedi. Mae’r dudalen hon ar gael yn Gymraeg drwy bwyso’r botwm ar y dde ar frig y dudalen.

We welcome correspondence and telephone calls in Welsh or English. Welsh language correspondence will be replied to in Welsh, and this will not lead to a delay. This page is available in Welsh by clicking ‘Cymraeg’ at the top right of this page.