Dr Annet Gamell is the Chief Clinical Officer for the Chiltern Clinical Commissioning Group, made up of 34 GP practices in Amersham, Wycombe and across South Bucks, serving a population of more than 320,000 and controlling a budget in excess of £320 million.

These days the idea of being neighbourly can be a tricky balancing act.

After all, no one wants to interfere or snoop into someone else’s business, so many of us are happy to live alongside our neighbours in semi-seclusion, perhaps a ‘hello’ as we pass each other but little else.

Unfortunately, with winter on its way and hospital services set to be stretched again this year, we all need to do a little more than that.

Whatever you think of David Cameron’s Big Society concept, the idea that we should be looking out for each other is one we should cling to. We have all heard terribly sad stories of elderly people who have died and gone undiscovered for long periods because no-one was looking in on them.

So please keep an eye on your neighbours this winter, particularly if they are elderly, infirm or living alone (indeed, many will be all three). Offering to help fill prescriptions, stock up their medicines or pick up supplies during a cold snap can mean a huge amount – perhaps the difference between them being safe and warm at home this Christmas or stumbling on ice to end up in hospital with a broken limb. Not only that, but simple human contact is a huge factor in our sense of mental wellbeing, and desperately important to vulnerable people living alone.

Similarly, please think about your elderly relatives. Many of you may have plans to go away, perhaps out of the country, over the festive period or in the New Year. If so, please ensure that you have contingency plans in place for any vulnerable relatives you leave behind in case of emergency. This is vital – for your loved ones and your health services.

Hospitals nationwide – including ours in Buckinghamshire – have experienced cases in which elderly people have been clinically fit for release (thus freeing up a bed for someone in greater medical need at that time) yet have been left stranded in a ward because relatives have gone away with no care contingencies in place. We have even experienced occasions when families have proceeded with plans to go away even after being told their relative is ready for discharge – leaving the hospital as an inappropriate ‘halfway house’ until their return.

For our hospitals to function at their best – particularly during winter – flow-through is the key. We need people to leave when they are healthy enough so we can admit others in more urgent need.

We must shake the notion that hospitals are ‘places of safety’ in all circumstances. They are places of treatment and recovery to a stable level, but they are a means to an end – to get our patients back into the community, to the most appropriate places of care.

Unnecessary stays in hospital can be hugely damaging: risk of infection is increased, while an elderly person spending over a week in a hospital bed can lose around 14 per cent of their muscle mass – roughly the equivalent of 10 years of ageing.

To keep our hospitals operating smoothly we need firstly to ensure people avoid being admitted in the first place, where possible, by keeping well. Get your flu jab, avoid unhealthy lifestyle behaviours, learn how to manage minor ailments or your long-term condition needs and how to seek help early when needed. NHS 111 or www.healthhelpnow-nhs.net should be used to seek appropriate care when required (which could be a pharmacy or out-of-hours GP rather than A&E). And secondly, we must release patients promptly when clinically appropriate.

By helping yourself, family, friends and neighbours this winter, you can play a vital part in ensuring your health services achieve these aims and, crucially, that people you care about remain healthy and safe.