Giving appropriate care for thousands of patients at Newark Hospital's Urgent Treatment Centre

Having previously told you about our vision to make Newark Hospital a vibrant and valued asset to the local community and the wider health and wellbeing benefits I hope to see at Newark Hospital, today I want to tell you about the Urgent Treatment Centre, writes David Ainsworth, Sherwood Forest Hospitals’ director of strategy and partnerships.

The Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) has undergone a few name changes. Sometimes known as a walk-in centre. Sometimes an urgent care centre.

No matter the name, the service provides seven-day availability and you can walk in without an appointment.

It is open from 9am to 10pm, with the last patient being booked in at 9.30pm each night. This allows the clinical team the necessary time to complete the care safely and get away at their rostered time.

As you walk through the automatic doors, you’ll enter a spacious and light waiting area and in the corner you will find a reception desk where you’ll be asked to give some basic details.

From there someone will assess why you’ve attended and allocate an order of priority.

This is based on need­ — the more serious the case, the quicker the treatment.

This can mean for some people it might appear someone has gone in ahead of you or out or order.

This will happen only when the team have made that assessment of urgent need.

I would encourage you to ask at reception if you are unsure or unclear during your visit.

And, above all, please be kind to our staff.

We accept waiting can be frustrating and will do what we can to see you as quickly and safely as we can.

The centre, which is a nurse-led service, sees patients with minor injuries and illnesses.

The nurses are specially trained to work independently. This means they can see, examine, treat, and discharge you home with the appropriate treatment.

And, where necessary, they are able to refer on to a specialist where admission on the same day is thought to be necessary.

They can see and treat adults and children alike.

Common presentations include fractures and sprains, minor head injuries, lacerations and wounds. The team can stitch or paper strip and glue close an open wound.

And at weekends, when your GP surgery is closed, they will often see minor illnesses such as water infections and skin rashes.

They aren’t really there to sort out problems with your routine prescriptions and they can’t speed up an appointment with a specialist where you have already been referred.

And dental care is always recommended through your own dentist or by calling 111 out of hours and at weekends.

They can, however, request and interpret x-rays on things like ankle and wrist injuries and they can refer on to the fracture clinic for ongoing after care.

I recently spoke to Michael, the lead nurse at the Urgent Treatment Centre, who explained: “We do not want people coming here if they have serious health conditions. If you think you are having a heart attack or stroke, the safest thing to do is stay put and ring 999.

“Otherwise, our staff work hard every day to see and treat people arriving with various minor injuries and illnesses.”

I would like to say a huge thanks to the dedicated staff who keep the Urgent Treatment Centre going 365 days a year.

In June this year, they saw 2,617 attendances ­— of which 99% were seen within four hours with really positive patient feedback ­— an utterly amazing effort.

Well done!

In my next article I will focus on the women’s centre.