Newark Constituency Labour Party calls for a return to overnight opening of Newark Hospital’s Urgent Treatment Centre with a full consultation and impact assessment

Newark Labour Party is calling for the return of overnight opening for an urgent treatment centre, and for a full consultation on any changes to the service.

The party says the current listening exercise being led by the NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board, which does not propose to change the duration of the current daytime-only opening times, is a significant and substantial change to the area’s health services.

The centre has been closed overnight since March 2020, when the impact of the covid-pandemic on staffing meant that it was not possible to continue to provide a reliable, safe urgent care service at the hospital 24 hours a day.

Newark Labour believes it should trigger a comprehensive public and local authority consultation that examines the impact it will have on residents and other health services, before any permanent changes take place.

While Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board, and Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust, which runs Newark Hospital, say no decision has been made over the treatment centre, it has concerns about the viability of opening overnight.

Newark is more than 20 miles from emergency care services, and, Newark Labour Party claims people are rightly worried about the health and safety of themselves and their loved ones.

Labour councillors and activists have been out in Newark listening to residents’ concerns. It reported an overwhelming response for a return to overnight opening.

The party added that after 13 years of under-investment in the NHS and in the number of doctors and nurses, the government is to blame, and although it welcomes the extra £20m announced for Newark, none of that will go to the hospital.

“As a resident, I have always been very impressed with the staff at Newark Hospital who have given my family the security of urgent care on our doorstep but it’s wrong to go ahead with a big permanent change to opening times, without it being up for discussion,” said Glenn Barker, of Newark Labour Party.

The party says the public engagement exercise falls far short of what is required and does not ask residents about daytime-only opening.

Newark Labour Party said it would contact Nottingham and Nottinghamshire NHS Integrated Care Board to ask why a permanent and substantial change to frontline services is going ahead without a comprehensive consultation and detailed impact assessments as a matter of urgency.

The exercise runs until October 17.

The exercise is open to anyone, and will inform when the urgent treatment centre should be open.