Middleton Walk-in Centre closure to go ahead

Middleton Walk-in Centre to close

Middleton Walk-in Centre will close following a decision made by The NHS Heywood Middleton Rochdale Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS England Primary Care Joint Commissioning Committee on Tuesday.

The committee met to decide on plans for Birtle View Medical Centre, Middleton Walk in Centre and Health Centre, Kirkholt Medical Practice and Kingsway Medical Practice.

During the meeting it was decided that plans for Middleton Walk-in Centre are to go ahead as planned with the contract for the walk-in element of the health centre being allowed to “expire”.

The service will therefore close in December 2016.

Before the decision was agreed by the committee, concerned workers and those who use the service urged those making the decision to re-think it.
Henry West said: “For the first ten years of its existence, I was the chairman of the Middleton Township committee and we wanted to establish a centre were people could access health care. Unfortunately we didn’t get that set up but once I saw that Middleton Walk-in Centre was set up, I was pleased.

“The centre is extremely useful and helpful. It is useful for those who may not be able to get a doctor’s appointment and is good for those who need an out of hours service. I hope you will support us in keeping this service open.”

A junior doctor from the centre said: “We often see up to 25,000 people use the Walk-in Centre facility and to hear you say that you are going to replace that service with just over 3,000 bookable appointments concerns me.”

Rob McLean, Finance Director for Hope Citadel Healthcare, which runs the Walk-in Centre, said: “If 25% of the people who use the walk-in facility now go to A&E because of the closure that will cost more money than it would to run the Walk-in Centre.”

Under plans proposed by the CCG, four hubs across the borough will provide access to more appointments with longer opening hours. This will start as a twelve month pilot scheme.

The CCG says it will continue to work on improving access throughout the twelve month trial period and will conduct a risk assessment as to the winder implications of closing the Walk-in centre in Middleton.

The closure of the walk-in centre will not affect the health centre side.

Middleton Health Centre will now go out for procurement in the hopes of finding a new provider for the service.

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/98700/opposition-to-middleton-walkin-centre-closure-plans