The Governing Body of North Tyneside’s Clinical Commissioning Group, which is responsible for planning and buying most healthcare services in the borough, is due to meet on Tuesday 5 December 2017 to consider the future of urgent care services.
Urgent care services provide medical care for minor injuries and minor ailments and are separate from A&E services which provide emergency care for people with life-threatening conditions. A&E services are not under consideration at this meeting.
The business meeting takes place in public on Tuesday 5 December 2017, 11am to 12 noon at 12 Hedley Court, Orion Business Park, North Shields, NE29 7ST.
Members of the public are invited to meet members of the governing body informally prior to the meeting from 10:45 – 11:00am.
During October and November, the CCG has carried out an engagement exercise to listen to people’s views on:
- The continued suspension of overnight access to the minor injuries and minor illnesses urgent care centre at North Tyneside General Hospital (‘Rake Lane’)
- The CCG’s plans to commission a new integrated urgent care service consisting of a single minor injuries and minor illnesses urgent treatment centre, which would open from 8am to 10pm, and a Home Visiting Service operating during the out of hours period. These changes would come into effect from 1 October 2018.
Dr John Matthews, a local GP and Chair of North Tyneside CCG, said: “Hundreds of people have taken the chance to share their views and I would like to thank them for getting involved, through a survey, group meetings, focus groups, public events or just sending us their comments.
“This has provided us with a huge amount of information about people’s worries and the sort of steps we can take to ensure any new system works as well as it possibly can.
“Some of the concerns were that people feel they don’t how to access the right service, don’t know enough about services like NHS 111 or find the names urgent care and emergency care confusing.
“The Governing Body will consider all the feedback we have received previously as well as the new feedback, alongside the clinical and other evidence, to make its decision and take whatever steps we can to ensure a new system works for everyone.”
The CCG has reviewed urgent care services over the past two years because the current system is inefficient, unaffordable and confusing, and many patients have said they would prefer a simpler ‘one stop shop’ service.
It launched the engagement exercise last month because some elements of its plan, such as walk in opening hours, have changed as a result of new circumstances. These include the creation of an extra 1,000 extra appointments every week at local GP practices, and new national guidelines for urgent care which all CCGs must comply with by 2019.
In addition, night-time opening at Rake Lane walk-in centre has been suspended for eleven months, and the CCG has seen no adverse effect on patient care as a result. Prior to this, the centre was used by around three patients per night. The walk in centre is only one part of a 24 hour urgent care service.
The listening period ran from 23 October to 17 November, with a survey, focus groups, public events and online advertising helping people to share their views.
t will however be sited within North Tyneside. There has been a rigorous and lengthy consultation process, from 2015, to inform this procurement.