New £16m urgent care centre to open to patients

A new £15.75m urgent treatment centre is to open at Northampton General Hospital.

The centre replaces the Springfield Urgent Treatment Centre and is next to the existing accident and emergency department.

Final checks are being carried out over the coming weeks and it is due to start accepting patients on 7 September.

The centre will provide a single place where people can be assessed and directed to the care they need, whether that is urgent treatment, emergency care or specialist care for children.

Des Daley, a matron at the hospital, said the patient experience would be "enhanced" by the new centre.

The centre is part of a larger hub for urgent and emergency care and is designed to make it quicker to assess patients and direct them to the most suitable care.

The hospital said bringing services together should make it easier for patients and families to move through the hospital.

It will also allow emergency department staff to focus on people with the most serious and life-threatening conditions.

Polly Grimmett, the hospital's director of strategy, said: "As demand for NHS services continues to grow, investments such as this are vital to ensuring local people can access the care they need."

The building was opened during a ribbon-cutting ceremony by the Lord-Lieutenant of Northamptonshire, James Saunders Watson.

Services will move into the new centre in stages over the coming weeks.

The hospital said the phased move would allow the transition to take place safely while services continued to operate.

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