Urgent care service set to return to hospital next year

NHS Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has announced that North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust will continue to deliver urgent care services across Hartlepool and Stockton.

It will be in alliance with Hartlepool and Stockton Health (the local GP Federation) and the North East Ambulance Service, following a formal bidding process.

There will be a new integrated urgent care service delivered across University Hospital of Hartlepool and University Hospital of North Tees from April 1 next year.

It will be a GP-led urgent care service, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

It will include GP out of hour’s services (where patients can see a GP for urgent care needs on evenings and weekends) and minor injuries.

Ali Wilson, chief officer for NHS Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said, “We look forward to working with the trust and partner organisations to deliver a new model of local urgent care starting on April 1, 2017.

“Improving patient outcomes and experience is very important to us as clinical commissioners.

“Patients told us that whilst their experience of urgent care was on the whole positive accessing the right care at the right time is confusing. This has in some cases led to patients having unnecessary waits in the Emergency Department when they could have been treated for their urgent need in a more effective way.

“We have listened to public feedback and have simplified the service to make sure patients receive the right care, at the right time and by the right people. We believe the changes we have made will help us to achieve that and improve patient experience.”

Speaking for the alliance, Alan Foster, chief executive at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This is a very exciting development for the trust and we look forward to working together with partner organisations, the local GP Federation (Hartlepool and Stockton Health) and the North East Ambulance Service, to provide this facility in Stockton and Hartlepool, which will be a huge benefit to all patients. Services will be aligned in a much closer way, ensuring that patients are seen by the right person in the right place.”