Coughs and colds

For Adults

Coughs and colds are common, especially during the winter months. Patients can often treat a cold without seeing a GP. GPs do not always recommend antibiotics for colds because they will not relieve your symptoms or speed up your recovery. Antibiotics only work if you have a bacterial infection, but colds are often caused by viruses.

Please ensure you check what symptoms the patient may have, and for how long.

This is important to determine if the patient is experiencing a ‘common cold’ or another infection.

High risk patients

Patient who have recently have chemotherapy often do not have very good immune systems. This means that common colds or infections like influenza can make them more sick than other people. It is important that we see these patients sooner rather than later.

Chronic cough

Winter colds and flu often give a patient a cough. Some people take longer than others to stop coughing. This can take a few weeks to get better. Patients who are coughing for more than 3 weeks should be seen by our surgery - as there could be more sinister reasons for their cough - for example, lung cancer or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or asthma.