1. What you told us about proposed changes to urgent care in Newcastle
Between November 2017 and January 2018 Newcastle Gateshead Clinical Commissioning Group (NGCCG) held a listening exercise to gather people’s views and experiences of urgent care services.
Between July 2018 and September 2018 NGCCG undertook a second exercise to feed back the findings of the previous work and to introduce and gather views on some planned changes to urgent care services, particularly around walk-in centres changing to Urgent Treatment Centres (UTCs) and we are now please to feedback the outcomes of this engagement process.
Urgent care services are separate from A&E (Accident and Emergency) services which provide emergency care. Urgent care services include: NHS 111, GP practices, GP out of hours, community pharmacies (or chemists) and walk-in centres.
During focus groups and listening events, you told us…
You were very happy that NGCCG had taken the time to listen to you, involve you and tell you about future changes
You were happy that there has been an improvement in urgent care services for patients and that changes are being implemented
You also recognised that there had been an improvement in NHS 111 services
You fed back on the quality and were happy with this
Support for the development of Urgent Treatment Centres
In December 2019 walk in centres with be known as Urgent Treatment Centres, you supported out plans because;
That children under 2 could be seen and that you can see a GP
We will use current sites, which are well known and accessed
They will be GP-led, staffed by GPs, nurses and other clinicians with access to simple diagnosis.
All sites would have access to x-ray facilities
They will provide a consistent route to urgent appointments booked through NHS111 and your general practice as well as some appointments for patients who walk in.
Information and awareness about urgent care services
Barriers to accessing urgent care services
You said:
There is a lack of awareness around what urgent care services are available and when to use
There is a lack of understanding around the changes that are being made to walk-in centres; how they will operate, what treatments will be available, whether appointments will be prioritised and whether UTCs will have access to patient records
There is a lack of awareness around how to access interpreters when calling NHS 111 or 999
That access to Westgate Walk-in Centre can be time consuming and costly for people who live in Lemington and the outer west of the city
It can be difficult accessing same-day appointments and attending a GP practice when offered early morning appointments
That NHS 111 ask too many questions and the service is always busy and they have to wait on hold

2. Proposed changes to Lemington Walk-in Centre
The current provision at the Lemington Centre did not meet the national criteria to become an Urgent Treatment Centre. However NGCCG propose to retain primary care services at this site. The plan is to:
Provide pre-booked appointments through NHS 111 or the patient’s GP practice
Provide GP appointments
Review opening times
During focus groups and listening events, you told us…
Value of the current service
Issues with the current service
You said:
You value the service and appreciate having access to a local facility requiring no travel out of the immediate area
You value the resource because there is no GP in Lemington and it is easier to physically access the Walk-in Centre than going to your GP practice
You value the open access facility, enabling people to walk-in and wait
However, just over a quarter of your felt that the service fully met the needs of the area
Issues with the current service are:
Not being open long enough
Inconsistent opening times
Having no access to diagnostic equipment
Children under two cannot use the service
No GP available
Support for the proposed service
Issues with the proposed service
Over two-fifths of you felt that the proposed new service would fully meet needs and be an improvement to the current service
Over two-thirds of you highlighted aspects of the proposed changes that you like:
Having access to a GP in Lemington
Easier to get seen by someone on the day and save patient waiting times
Longer and more consistent opening hours
Having an urgent care service available in Lemington
The preferred opening times, chosen by you were Monday to Friday, 8am until 6pm
Half of you felt that the proposals would not fully meet the needs of the area
Your main concern was that having to book an appointment would mean less flexibility in the system
That bookable appointments could create barriers to access
That booked appointments may lead to people missing them and resources being wasted
Some of you would like a mix of both pre-bookable and drop-in appointments
You had concerns that you would not be able to get appointments as the service would become an overspill for local GP practices

3. You said, We considered and Will do
From what you told us, the following points were considered about future urgent care services in city.
You said, We considered and Will do
You said:
A lack of awareness of urgent care services in Newcastle
The development of UTCs
Changes to the way urgent primary care support at the Lemington Centre is accessed
In addition to mainstream media platforms, the voluntary and community sector should be used to get messages out
Any materials developed should also be distributed to the organisations and groups who took part in this engagement activity
All plans should also ensure that information is provided in an accessible way, including information in different languages and formats
We considered:
All of the above points and plan to have in place by December 2019 a robust communications plan along with an focus on how this will be distributed to those who need the information most; this will include working with partners and stakeholders to engage with wider community and producing the documents in accessible, easy read formats including different languages via the NGCCG website
The new service at Lemington should be monitored in its initial stages to ensure it is still able to meet the needs of the area. This should include:
Who is using the service and for what
Gathering feedback from both service users and local residents after the new service has been in operation for six months
We considered and are now doing:
These points are now being addresses currently to ensure the needs of those living in Lemington are met
Explore people’s awareness of accessing interpreters and as part of the communications plan ensure that people understand what they actually do and say to get access to an interpreter, signer, or have information in another format such as large print, braille or easy read
We will:
This will be part of the larger communication plan ready by December 2019
If you would like access to the full report or have any further questions please contact:
Or visit NGCCG website