As regular readers of my column, you will know that Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS) offers a wide variety of services including community nursing, inpatient services, outpatient services, out of hours and also minor injury and urgent care services.
Earlier this year LCHS was successful in its bid for a new service to provide a minor injury and illness (MIIU) service at the City Care Centre in Peterborough.
For the people in and around Peterborough, this means that the current Walk-in Centre operating out of the City Care Centre will be replaced on October 1 service run by LCHS.
This will offer a wider range of treatments and urgent care services than what is currently offered within the Walk-in Centre.
Although this service is located in Peterborough, LCHS patients who live on the border of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire choose to visit Peterborough for the healthcare they need or they work there and want to access healthcare services during the day.
This new service represents not only an improvement in services for residents of Peterborough but also those people at the borders of Lincolnshire.
The service is open every day from 8am until 8pm and really signifies a step forward for LCHS.
The new service aims to ease pressure on the A&E service at Peterborough City Hospital.
Many people go to A&E when they could just as easily go to their pharmacist, GP, Walk-in Centre or a unit similar to the one at the City Care Centre. People who use A&E when they don’t need to cost Peterborough City Hospital £1.3million a year and in Lincolnshire this is £2million.
In Lincolnshire, this is the equivalent of some 500 heart attack patients, 500 stroke admissions or to buy 250 hip replacements.
The new service will be run by staff from both nursing and medical backgrounds with enhanced skills enabling them to see, treat and discharge patients independently.