Successful first year for new health centre (From Worcester News)

Successful first year for new health centre

9:10pm Wednesday 6th October 2010 in Local By James Connell

A WALK-in health centre has more than 1,000 patients on the books a year after opening – and demand continues to rise.

The health centre in Farrier Street, Worcester, had 1,089 registered patients in August, a year after opening, and numbers on the centre’s books have now risen to more than 1,200 patients.

When the centre opened last August there were no patients registered but high demand means GPs are on track to have 5,400 registered patients in four years’ time, in line with Worcestershire’s projected population growth.

The centre, which is open 8am to 8pm every day of the year including bank holidays and Christmas, is contracted by the NHS to see 50 unregistered walk-in patients a day but managers say staff – six GPs and four nurses – consistently see about 10 more patients a day than this.

On average, 425 walk-in patients are seen each week, 94.5 per cent within 45 minutes of giving their details to staff, says Elgar Healthcare, the company that manages the centre and has a £1 million-a-year contract with NHS Worcestershire, which holds the purse strings for county healthcare.

Centre manager Malcolm Sampson said people who could not be seen straight away were given the option to return later or to wait.

At the moment only patients who live in Worcester can register at the practice.

There is a possibility that the centre may develop a minor injuries unit, which could help take pressure off A&E at Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester.

Mr Sampson said: “It is widely accepted that at least 40 per cent of self-admissions to A&E nationally are inappropriate and could have been seen by a GP.

“We are filling a gap that traditionally hasn’t been met. The centre continues to go from strength to strength.

“Patients are happy with the quality of care they have received and it must be taking the pressure off GP practices, the out of hours service and A&E.”

The walk-in centre has a younger patient base than many more traditional GP practices, including working people, mothers with young children, students (53 of whom were signed up during freshers’ week) and vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups like the homeless, who may have mental health or drug, alcohol and substance misuse problems and may have “fallen off the radar of healthcare”.

There are specialist GPs at the centre who are trained to manage some of the challenging problems some homeless people may encounter.

Mr Sampson said in the last year the centre had conducted 12 monthly patient satisfaction surveys, each containing a sample of 30 to 40 patients, and all conducted on different days of the week to make the results more representative.

So far, the centre has recorded 100 per cent satisfaction in these surveys, Mr Sampson said.