Peterborough’s walk-in centre set to open at city hospital

The Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC), currently located within the City Care Centre in Thorpe Road, is moving to the hospital in Bretton, which is run by the North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust.

Phil Walmsley, chief operating officer, said: “From July 1 patients with minor illnesses and injuries who cannot be treated at home, by a local pharmacist or their GP will be seen at the UTC on the Peterborough City Hospital site.

“Having the UTC on site and as part of our urgent and emergency care services will enable patients to be seen in the right setting, first time.”

The move - which was rejected by a majority of respondents to a public consultation - is part of a wider piece of work that has seen a reconfiguration of urgent and emergency care at the hospital in a bid to improve patient experience and reduce pressure on the hospital’s emergency department.

Mr Walmsley added: “We are seeing increasingly high numbers in our emergency departments at the moment,

“We are hoping that by providing this new co-located service it will allow our emergency department to focus on delivering care to our sickest patients and stop those needing less urgent care waiting for long periods to be seen.”

Patients are encouraged to contact NHS 111 if they are feeling unwell and cannot self-treat at home, see their GP or use their local pharmacist.

If they are advised to visit the UTC it will be open from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week.

Co-located with the UTC will also be the GP Out of Hours provided by Herts Urgent Care.

The GP Out of Hours Service will move across to the UTC at 8pm on Wednesday and any patients receiving an appointment for this should attend the UTC at Peterborough City Hospital, not Thorpe Road.

Mike More, chair of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care System, said: “It’s fantastic to see that our urgent and emergency care services in Peterborough are now together on one site.

“We are committed to working together as a system and the relocation of the UTC demonstrates how through strong partnerships we can provide innovative, accessible and high quality healthcare services for our local communities.”