A campaign to discourage people from going to the hospital emergency department for minor ailments is starting to bear fruit.

The number of people calling at the A&E department dropped by 966 in July - when the campaign was launched - compared to the same month last year, although the department was still very busy, dealing with 9,209 callers.

In August the decline was of 660 to 9,179 while last month there were 718 fewer callers, with the department handling 8,296 patients.

A spokesman for the Secretariat for Health said people were clearly realising that it made no sense for them to go to hospital for minor matters, and they should instead seek their private doctor or call at a health centre.

The government's priority now was to improve services at health centres so that even fewer people would feel the need to go to hospital. A study on current practices and demand for health centres is well underway ahead of a reform of the sector.