Battle to change care centre hours

CCG URGED TO RESTART 24-HOUR SERVICE AT RAKE LANE

Reporter CALLS are being made for a 24-hour urgent care service to be brought back at North Tyneside General Hospital.

Conservative councillors are urging the local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to re-instate the round-the-clock Urgent Care Centre at the hospital on Rake Lane.

Last December, the opening hours of the centres at Rake Lane, Wansbeck and Hexham hospitals were changed to run from 8am until midnight.

This was done as a temporary measure during the winter months, while staff were redeployed to the Northumbria Emergency Care Hospital at Cramlington.

But the arrangements were extended in March and June as health bosses said demand continued to be high.

In October, they announced that 24-hour care was being reinstated at Hexham and Wansbeck but the shorter hours remained in place at North Tyneside while urgent care services were reviewed.

This status has been described as “unacceptable” by campaigners.

Coun Pam McIntyre, who represents St Mary’s ward on North Tyneside Council, said: “We appreciate that this is a complex issue and that the massive NHS investment in opening the new hospital at Cramlington has had a knock-on effect on our local hospital.

“However, like the majority of our residents we cannot accept that North Tyneside should be the only area without overnight urgent care provision, and we understand their concerns that Rake Lane is slowly being downgraded.

“Like them, we believe it is important that expansion of services at Cramlington does not happen to the detriment of local services for our residents.

“This decision rests purely with the local commissioning group and not with the Government – we urge them to listen to our residents and to us as their local representatives and to re-instate 24/7 urgent care provision as originally promised.”

The CCG says the centre was only used by a few people overnight, with the majority of patients needing no or minor treatment.

Dr John Matthews, a local GP and chairman of NHS North Tyneside CCG, said: “Urgent care services in North Tyneside do operate 24/7, through the walk-in centres during the day and the GP out-of-hours service at night time.

“If you think you need urgent care at night time, you should call NHS 111, or in an emergency, call 999 or attend A&E at Cramlington or the RVI.

“The Rake Lane walk-in centre was used by around three patients per night, with around two-thirds of these needing either no treatment or very minor treatment.

“Reopening the centre at night time would mean moving staff away from the many patients at A&E with potentially life-threatening conditions, so that they can work with a handful of patients with mostly minor illnesses.”

The CCG has recently finished a consultation process regarding plans for a new urgent care service as well as the situation at Rake Lane.

The findings will be presented to the CCG’s governing body next Tuesday.