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Walk-in centre to open at New Cross

A new walk-in centre will open for patients at New Cross Hospital's A&E, replacing the existing facility in Low Hill.

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New Cross Hospital

The centre will be based at the hospital's £38 million A&E unit and open in April next year.

It will replace Showell Park Health and Walk In Centre, offering services that bridge the gap between waiting for a GP appointment and urgent care at A&E.

The move is part of ongoing efforts by health bosses to improve access to care while relieving pressure on A&E after a survey found that 35 per cent of patients who turned up there could have been treated elsewhere.

A&E at New Cross has seen record patient numbers over the past two years as patients flood in from troubled Stafford.

Wolverhampton's Clinic Commissioning Group (CCG) chief finance and operations officer, Claire Skidmore, said: "This is a challenging year financially. We are not alone in that in Wolverhampton.

"Last year we spent £176m in hospitals, predominantly at New Cross.

"In A&E some 85,000 people from the city walked through the doors.

"I really do think that our transformation agenda is the key to this organisation moving forward.

"We are very much focussed on care, but if we can move our resources around to different services then this should make a difference."

Other walk-in clinics such as Phoenix Walk In Centre in Parkfields will remain open.

Last October, bosses were forced to shut the Showell Park facility for three hours a day as it reached full capacity.

Patients who called into the complex were told to call 999, see their GP or go to A&E at New Cross.

When completed, the new Urgent and Emergency Care Centre at New Cross will see 300 staff look after an estimated 120,000 patients a year from across the city, Staffordshire and other parts of the Black Country.

It is due to open in November in the first phase, but the walk-in element will follow.

Earlier this week, health bosses also announced they would be rolling out extra training for care home workers at 85 premises under a £40,000 programme to keep elderly residents out of hospital.

It is part of efforts to improve knowledge among healthcare assistants who are looking after people with conditions such as diabetes, pressure ulcers and chest infections that can be monitored for changes and treated in a

care home setting if staff are taught what to look for.

The idea is to address issues that arise early before the patient deteriorates and needs to be taken to hospital.

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