PLANS to axe five walk-in facilities across Wirral will actually mean a BETTER local health system, with alternative proposals meaning more GP appointments and “closer to home” care, an NHS chief has said.

Dr Paula Cowan, Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCG) medical director has stressed that the ongoing urgent care consultation is a way of pursuing a system “that is better for delivery of care”, and she wants to ease the fears raised following its launch last month.

She stressed that if the consultation proposals go ahead and walk-in facilities at Eastham Clinic, Victoria Central Wallasey, Miriam Medical Centre in Birkenhead, Parkfield Medical Centre in New Ferry and Moreton Health Clinic do go, all other clinical services provided at these locations, including blood tests, would not be affected.

Dr Cowan said: “This is about making sure patients are seen in the place most appropriate to their clinical need.

“This is not about taking services away from patients – it’s about making it more suitable for them.”

The current proposals would mean the following:

  • As above, walk-in facilities at Eastham, Victoria, Miriam, Parkfield and Moreton would go, but other services at these centres will NOT be affected.
  • Arrowe Park Hospital’s walk-in centre would be transformed into a Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC), which could open 15 or 24 hours a day, depending on public responses.
  • There will not be any changes in how people access their usual GP services, but patients will have access to bookable urgent appointments with either a GP or nurse within 24 hours (mostly on the same day), if their own GP practice is unable to provide an appointment. The CCG believes this will improve access, as patients won’t have to wait for “unspecified amounts of time like they do currently”, but can fit them in around their day. The CCG is already providing an extra 700 GP appointments each week, with more set to come.
  • A dedicated urgent care service for young people aged 0-19 is also proposed as well as a bookable dressings (wound care) service within four local areas across Wirral. The locations for these will be decided at a “later date”.
  • The CCG says its “vision” is to introduce four health and wellbeing centres across Wirral where there are more services in a “location recognised and valued by the people who use them”. The staff at these would work together in neighbourhood teams, and would include NHS employees and staff from social care, therapies and charitable and voluntary organisations.
  • The NHS 111 service is set to improve and offer more assessments by doctors and nurses over the phone and online. The CCG said for many, this will be the only contact they need.

Why has it been done?

The CCG said one of the biggest reasons for the changes are down to confusion caused by the current system, which it was told by the public during a “listening exercise” earlier this year.

It’s also to ease pressure on Arrowe Park Hospital’s overstretched A&E service. The CCG said almost half of patients who attended the department last year had an illness or injury that could have been treated elsewhere.

Dr Cowan added: “Frequently, patients see a nurse in a walk-in centre and they are then referred back to the GP or unfortunately into the emergency room.

“That’s something we really need to avoid. So what we are doing is making sure that people are seen in the place most appropriate for their clinical need. It’s about creating a simpler system.

“This is not about taking care away from patients – it’s about making a delivery of urgent care more appropriate to their needs, by enhancing the delivery of care for patients.”

She also said the proposal was not about saving money, adding: “We won’t be spending any less on urgent care services as a result of this proposal. We have a responsibility to make sure the local NHS is as efficient as it can be and our proposals have been carefully planned and include input from the public, stakeholders and NHS staff.

“We now need the people of Wirral to look at our proposals and share their views. No decisions will be made until we have reviewed all the feedback after the consultation.”

The proposals, the CCG said, build on national initiatives being put forward by NHS England across the country.

What exactly is a UTC?

According to the CCG, this is a national requirement, and will provide a higher and more consistent level of clinical service than the current walk-in centres and minor illness/injury units.

It will be led by GPs and provide access to a range of healthcare staff.

Having the UTC located on the Arrowe Park site will mean patients arriving for urgent care will be assessed and directed to either A&E or the UTC to be seen by a GP or nurse.

These are the five questions the CCG is asking Wirral residents as part of the consultation.

They are:

1. How long do you think the UTC should be open – 15 hours or 24 hours?

2. What do you think about having an urgent appointment in your local area which you can book, instead of a walk-in option?

3. What do you think of a local walk-in option for children with symptoms such as a temperature, in addition to bookable urgent appointments?

4. What is important to you when thinking about where the children’s urgent care and dressings (wound care) service should be located?

5. Do you think that the model we are proposing improves on what we have now?

For full details, and to have your say on the proposals, visit: www.wirralurgentcare.co.uk/