Another day in the life of Halton Urgent Care Centres

Healthwatch Halton conducted a series of visits to Halton NHS Urgent Care Centres between July 2017 and January 2018 to review the progress being made following their 2015 'A Day in the life of...' series of visits to the same locations.

As in 2015, the survey consisted of two parts. Part one was completed with the patient while they were waiting to receive treatment. Part two was completed by the patient after treatment. In these visits, a total of 241 people completed the survey, 111 were visiting the Widnes Urgent Care Centre and 130 visiting the Runcorn Urgent Care Centre.

43% of people said it was the first time they’d used the Centres in the previous 12 months. The patients who had used the Urgent Care Centres previously had averaged 3.3 visits in the past 12 months and over 50% said they would have gone to the local A&E department if the Urgent Care Centres hadn’t been available.

59% of people said that they went straight to the UCCs without seeking help anywhere else. This a similar figure to the one in the original report ‘A day in the life’ where 61% said the same thing. Although not a question on the survey, people were asked to comment on why they had not looked for help anywhere else. While some patients said that they felt their need was urgent, the majority of people said they didn’t think their GP would have an appointment available for that day. Of the 89 people who had sought help elsewhere first, 5 people said their GP had advised them to go to the Urgent Care Centre and the remainder had been unable to get an appointment for that day.

There were a number of recommendations made in the report, mainly on ensuring both Urgent Care Centres make the same amenities (free water, electronic appointment/ waiting times board,) and both the Halton Clinical Commissioning Group, and the Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust have responded positively to the report and the recommendations contained within.