Impact of our Urgent Care Centres

One of the common messages that the NHS conveys to the public is that Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments should only be used in the event of an accident or an emergency.  Whilst A&E departments are open seven days a week, 24 hours a day, they are sometimes seeing people who do not need to be there, which puts pressure on their ability to see and treat people who do need to be there.  This is why, in addition to promoting self-care, NHS 111 and Care At The Chemist, NHS Halton CCG has invested in developing two Urgent Care Centres – to relieve the pressure on A&E during peak periods of demand.

The Urgent Care Centre (UCC) on the Halton Hospital site in Runcorn has been operational for around a year, the UCC on Moor Lane, Widnes has been functioning for around six months. They are both open seven days a week from 7am to 10.30pm (last patient at 10pm), which is when people need them most and when A&E is most under pressure.  The UCCs are now starting to demonstrate their worth in reducing pressure from Halton residents on A&E with fewer attendances at and admissions into local A&Es by Halton residents.  On average, Halton UCC patients wait less than one hour from attendance to treatment, with almost every patient being seen and treated with 4 hours.  Patient satisfaction is also high, around 95%, and we have prevented around £657,000 of non-elective admissions.  More detail on the impact of the UCCs can be found on the website for The Academy of Fabulous NHS Stuff - http://www.fabnhsstuff.net/2016/04/25/halton-urgent-care-centres/

In the coming months we want to develop the Urgent Care Centres further.  We can develop them to support general practice and they can begin to deliver the goal of 7 day access to general practice services, they can also offer more elective, outpatient activity locally.  We have more to do, but we want to build on the success of the UCCs.

http://www.haltonccg.nhs.uk/your-health

15th April 2016 - Junior Doctors Strike

Junior Doctors Strike

On 26^th and 27^th April 2016 it is expected that Junior Doctors will be taking strike action.  This will put pressure on our local hospitals as they take steps to maintain emergency cover.  We will be working with our 17 general practices to see if they can offer additional support, perhaps through additional “on the day” appointments over these two days.  We also have two Urgent Care Centres, one in Widnes on Moor Lane and one in Runcorn on the Halton Hospital site, that offer access to minor injury, minor illness, GP consultation and expert children’s medicine from 7.30am to 10pm seven days a week.  For minor complaints you can also try your community pharmacists.

Simon Banks

Our third birthday

Our third birthday
 
This week we mark our third year as a statutory organisation. After forming in November 2011 we then had to "earn our stripes" to become a NHS organisation and use the blue lozenge with those three letters in it.

Over the last three years we have worked closely with our partners in health and care and in the wider community to do our best to involve everybody in the health and wellbeing of Halton. We have had some notable successes, such as the opening of the Urgent Care Centres, the creation of the Community Wellbeing Practices and increased integration with Halton Borough Council.

We have also some continuing challenges, ensuring that we continue to commission high quality services whilst addressing increased demand and public expectations with increasingly scarce resources. Most people think we are doing a good job, we have certainly attracted a few awards, accolades and compliments. That said, we don't always get it right, but when this happens we seek to learn to do better next time. The last three years have flown by, the next three pose even bigger challenges and will also pass very quickly. We hope that you will join us for the ride.

Simon Banks