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Plans to simplify access to Crawley walk-in treatment services and to maintain care for registered Crawley Health Centre patients approved

Plans to simplify patient access to local walk-in services in Crawley have been approved by NHS England.

Funding for services at Crawley Health Centre will be reinvested to support walk-in services at Crawley Hospital and care for patients at other local GP practices, once the current contract there expires in September 2015.

Patients currently registered at the Crawley Health Centre GP practice will be supported to register with other surgeries of their choice in order to make sure they have continued access to GP services.

To make better use of available NHS resources and avoid the duplication and confusion of having two walk-in treatment services within a short distance of one another, patients will be able to access  walk-in services from one central place at the Crawley Hospital Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) from 30 September 2015.  The UTC will offer services for a greater range of minor illnesses and injuries 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

NHS Crawley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which is responsible for commissioning urgent care, will continue to strengthen and develop services at Crawley Hospital.  This will include a specialist children’s (paediatric) service and an extended reception area and waiting room with separate space for children and families to ensure the best possible experience for local patients.

NHS England South (South East) Director of Commissioning Operations Felicity Cox, said: “We have taken action to ensure patients have ongoing access to services following the end of the Crawley Health Centre contract and we have taken their feedback into account in doing so.

“Reinvesting funding to support walk-in services in one location and to support care for patients at other local GP practices will make the best use of available NHS resources for the benefit of the community.”

NHS Crawley CCG Chairman, Alan Kennedy, said: “We want to thank the hundreds of local people who contributed their views and feedback to the proposals for the future of urgent care walk-in services in the town”.

“Patient views are important in ensuring we plan NHS services that work for our local community and we have some really positive and practical feedback that we have already taken action on, including children’s care and car parking at the hospital.”

Due to the relatively small number of patients registered at Crawley Health Centre, it will not be sustainable as a stand-alone GP practice once the current contract ends.

The 12 other local GP practices in the Crawley area have capacity to welcome patients from Crawley Health Centre who will now need to register elsewhere for treatment.   Patients are being sent a letter about how they can register with a new GP practice.

The decision on how to continue providing patient care once the Crawley Health Centre contract ends in September follows a three-month engagement process by NHS England and NHS Crawley CCG. Independent analysis of the feedback has been published on the NHS England website, alongside details of how NHS England and NHS Crawley CCG have responded to the views of the local community.