Public Health Wales has launched a new symptoms checker tool to help parents spot the signs of Strep A. It is hoped it will help parents decide when to treat their child at home and when it is appropriate to seek medical advice. It follows an escalation in the number of calls to NHS 111 Wales last weekend. There were over 18 thousand calls – more than double the calls received on the same weekend last year. A significant proportion of these were from parents of children aged 12 years old and under and from those concerned about sore throats and throat problems.

The new symptoms checker takes the form of a traffic light showing parents when it is safe to treat a child at home and at what stage they should consider calling NHS 111 Wales or their GP. It’s hoped it will help parents to feel more confident about when they need to seek medical help.