Hereford walk-in centre will close its doors in August

Visitors hoping to use the "no appointment necessary" clinic from August 1 will instead find posters at the site directing them to call a telephone number for help.

The building will be refurbished and the Moorfield House Surgery branch in Ross Road will move onto the site, opening later in the year to provide day-time appointments from Monday to Friday.

The Taurus out of hours provision will also move from its current home on St Owen Street to the Asda site and provide appointments from 6.30pm to 8.30pm weekdays and from 8am to 8pm on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays.

But Glenda Vaughan-Powell, a former county councillor, believes the change will have an adverse effect on patients and will only increase the pressure on the A&E department at nearby Hereford County Hospital.

She led a campaign to save the walk-in clinic and collected 6,565 signatures from people who were against the closure and said she was disappointed but not surprised by the decision.

She added: “This is not satisfactory for the people of South Wye to be losing a very good walk-in-centre service which a lot of people have benefited from over the last 10 years, and helped immensely to support the A&E department of the county hospital with their overspill of patients.”

Herefordshire Clinical Commissioning Group’s health bosses said they will now look to reinvest resources into local GP practices, in response to public concerns over appointment accessibility and fears that additional pressure will be placed on A&E.

Lesley Woakes, head of primary care at the CCG, said if patients talk before they walk by calling the NHS 111 number, for example, they can be directed to the appropriate NHS service.

There will also be a focus on providing triage at A&E so patients can be treated appropriately.

Jesse Norman, MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire, said he was now pressing the CCG for "cast-iron commitments" on key issues.

He said: "What matters is that there should be the best possible medical facility at ASDA for the people of Hereford, and of South Wye in particular. Glenda Powell, who has vigorously campaigned on this issue, is to be congratulated for fighting for the best interests of local people.

"I have spoken at length about this with the Herefordshire CCG, which commissions and funds these services. It is quite clear that their plan is not to close the current facility for good, but only for a short period, after which it will reopen as a Primary Care Access Centre led by local GPs." 

He added: "These include: that people with an urgent condition can continue to see a doctor at the new ASDA Centre immediately; that there should be further investment to upgrade the ASDA facility; that any transitional arrangements should be as short as possible; and that there should be a greater range of medical services offered than at present.

"It would be great if the new centre could offer enhanced Children's Services and immunisations, for example."

The CCG want to encourage more people to register with a GP which they said will provide better healthcare as GPs have access to notes and ongoing conditions.

Dr Dominic Horne, CCG clinical vice chair, used to work at the now closed Worcester walk-in centre and he said it was simply a sticking plaster for patients as the medical staff were not able to see the patient's records.

He said: "There is more potential to get things wrong and miss things."

The CCG also made a commitment to engage closely with the voluntary sector as it implements these proposals, in particular in developing solutions to ensure safeguarding of those who are most vulnerable.

Dr Ian Tait, GP and clinical chair of Herefordshire CCG, said: "It is understandable that the decision will be met with some apprehension, but we will reinvest the money in primary care and community services to provide the best and most appropriate care for the local population.

"The walk-in service was designed to provide for people who are not registered with a GP in the local area or who cannot get an urgent same-day appointment at their practice, but our research found that it was not fulfilling this purpose.

“The changes will mean a better service for registered patients at the Ross Road branch and will bring the evening and weekend appointments to a location that will also serve South Wye residents, which they do not currently have."

A public consultation on the proposals ran from March 3 to April 24 and from the online responses showed that 52 percent were not supportive and 38 percent were, while the remainder were neutral.

While at public meetings, 42 percent were neutral, 37 percent were supportive and the remainder were not supportive.

The governing body agreed that robust plans would be in place to ensure people are redirected to appropriate services and there will be a public awareness campaign to inform people of appropriate alternatives and where to go if they need help.