Wakefield: At-risk NHS walk-in centre has lease extended

Wakefield MP Simon Lightwood made the issue a key focus at his by-election campaign (May 2022 photo)

A city centre NHS walk-in centre threatened with closure is to remain open for at least three more years.

Health chiefs have confirmed the lease for the facility on King Street, Wakefield, has been extended.

More than 2,000 people signed a petition calling for it to be saved when it was put under review last year.

Wakefield MP Simon Lightwood made the issue a key focus in his by-election campaign in 2022, saying closure could lead to a "healthcare black hole".

The centre offers assessment, diagnosis and treatment of urgent, non-life threatening illnesses and minor injuries.

The service is commissioned by Wakefield District Health and Care Partnership and delivered by Local Care Direct.

'Catastrophic'

Following the outcry, the partnership agreed to find alternative premises to ensure the service maintained a city centre presence, the Local Democracy Service reported.

However, it said it had been unable to secure funds for a move but that a new three-year lease at the existing site had been secured.

A meeting heard on Thursday that Wakefield Council's headquarters building at Wakefield One, on Burton Street, had been considered as a possible new location for the centre.

Member of the council's NHS scrutiny committee member Charlie Keith said: "We need to emphasise this service, because in the last six weeks I have paid two visits to A&E at Pinderfields.

"The absolute mayhem, that the staff do a fantastic job to work through, is now on a daily basis.

"Pinderfields (A&E department) was built to take on between 70 and 90 people and there were 130 people in there.

"It is becoming catastrophic."