Newark urgent treatment centre will not return to 24-hour opening

The centre is based at Newark Hospital

The opening hours of an urgent treatment centre in Nottinghamshire are to be extended - but health bosses have ruled out returning to a 24-hour service.

The centre, based at Newark Hospital, stayed open through the night until March 2020.

NHS leaders said new permanent hours would see it open an extra two and a half hours each day.

It will now welcome patients from 08:00 to 22:30, seven days a week.

Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust accepted that feedback from residents had shown a "clear preference" for a return to 24-hours opening.

However, it said this had to be balanced "against other factors within a rounded evidence-based decision".

The trust added keeping the centre open 14.5 hours each day went further than the 12-hour minimum national standard set for urgent treatment centres by NHS England.

Victoria McGregor-Riley, from NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, said: "The decision to extend the opening hours at the urgent treatment centre strikes a balance between flexibility for the local population, current service usage, and operational and staffing levels."