Coronavirus: Urgent care services suspended at Melton Hospital

Urgent care services have been suspended at Melton Mowbray Hospital with patients asked to travel instead to Loughborough in the evenings and at weekends as the Covid-19 crisis continues.
Melton Mowbray Hospital EMN-200204-105823001Melton Mowbray Hospital EMN-200204-105823001
Melton Mowbray Hospital EMN-200204-105823001

But Melton people requiring urgent care - minor injuries and illnesses which require urgent treatment but which are not life-threatening - can still get treatment at the town’s Latham House Medical Practice between 8am and 6.30pm on weekdays, although they must call the surgery first to make an appointment.

The NHS in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland has consolidated evening and weekend urgent care services at just four locations to free up more staff as the coronavirus pandemic continues to put extra strain across all health services.

The nearest centre for Melton residents is Loughborough Urgent Care Centre, on Hospital Way, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Melton Hospital has previously provided the service 6.30pm to 9pm on weekdays and 9am to 7pm at weekends and on bank holidays.

West Leicestershire CCG say: “The changes are necessary to make the best use of clinical teams and other health staff by basing them at fewer locations during the outbreak.

“By doing this we can continue to provide services safely for patients and lower the risk of infection by reducing patient movement across services.

“We acknowledge this may mean more travel for some people to be seen.

“However, reducing the number of sites that our urgent care centres and primary care hubs are operating from during the coronavirus pandemic will allow us to continue to provide these services for patients while ensuring we can also respond to increased demand, in other local NHS services.”

The other three centres which will temporarily handle patients from across the county are Oadby Urgent Care Centre, Merlyn Vaz Hub and Westcotes Healthcare Hub, the latter two seeing patients by appointment only.

As well as Melton Hospital, urgent care services will also be suspended until further notice at Enderby, Lutterworth, Oakham, Market Harborough, Coalville, Hinckley, Belgrave (Brandon Street) and Saffron Lane.

The local NHS say the changes also reflect fewer face-to-face consultations between patients and health staff currently taking place as a precaution against COVID-19 (coronavirus) - since March 9, the number of patients seen at urgent care sites across the system has reduced by around three-quarters.

The changes are temporary, will be regularly reviewed and local people will be kept informed of developments.

GP practices have already introduced their own telephone triage systems and most patients are calling NHS 111 when they need urgent care.

A spokesperson for Latham House Medical Practice said: “Our services are continuing as they always have with urgent and routine appointments available from 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday.

“We are asking patients to call us first rather than just come to the practice so we can assess the risk of them having the coronavirus and manage them appropriately.”

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