A&E walk-ins urged to attend new centre

PATIENTS with minor injuries and illnesses are still attending Derriford's busy emergency department (ED) when they could be treated at a new £52 million facility on the hospital site.

- By ALISON STEPHENSON

Staff at Derriford's new urgent treatment centre UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS PLYMOUTH NHS TRUST

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust said that dozens of people who arrived at the ED in the last two months could have been safely treated at the urgent treatment centre (UTC).

The centre is a walk-in facility contained within the new three-storey Dartmoor Building and is open seven days a week from 8am to 8pm.

It is intended to ease the pressure on the ED, which is the region's main trauma centre, and enable emergency medicine specialists to focus on those patients who are seriously unwell.

The trust said that patients attending the emergency department with minor injuries or illnesses will now be redirected. If they arrive outside the hours that the UTC is open they may be asked to return there the next day, or the Cumberland Centre, or their local minor injuries unit.