Staff shortage closes urgent treatment centre

Ilkeston Urgent Treatment Centre, based at the town's community hospital, off Heanor Road

Health officials say a town's urgent treatment centre (UTC) will remain closed while a staff shortage is resolved.

Ilkeston UTC, based at the town's community hospital, shut last week as "a short-term measure".

The service - which provides care for more minor injuries and illnesses - was temporarily merged with Ripley UTC, at Ripley Community Hospital.

The initial one-week closure has now been extended by a further nine days.

On Friday, Dean Wallace, chief operating officer for Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust said: "We've kept the position under daily review.

"Trying to balance the availability of suitably qualified clinical staff against service demand, we have decided to keep the current arrangement in place until at least 23 June."

'Commited' to returning

Both centres are said to have been under "significant pressure" in recent months due to staff shortages, with Ilkeston’s unit operating an appointment-only service since November 2023.

Officials said the merger was necessary to ensure staff did not suffer undue pressure and patients continued to receive "safe" levels of care.

The trust says the merger would see the new service continue to treat about the same number of patients as before.

It says it has worked "incredibly hard" to strengthen staffing, including training new starters and recruiting fresh clinical leaders.

Ripley UTC will operate a full walk-in service and appointments, which can be made via NHS 111.

All other patient services at Ilkeston and Ripley hospitals are unaffected, apart from blood testing at Ripley, which has been temporarily moved elsewhere on the Sandham Lane site.

A statement on its website said that the trust was "fully committed to returning to both sites" as soon as possible.

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