Left to right: Alwen Williams, (Barts Health Group Chief Executive Officer), Helen Byrne (Barts Health Director of Integration and Strategic Development), Ruth Walters (GP Care Group Director of Quality Assurance)
When it comes to accessing medical care that's urgent but not life-threatening, people in Tower Hamlets now only need to do one thing; call NHS 111 who will direct callers to the most appropriate service.
This may now be an appointment at the newly launched Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC), run by the Tower Hamlets GP Care Group in collaboration with Barts Health NHS Trust and East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT).
From Wednesday 14 August 2019, the new UTC service, located in Clinic 1 at The Royal London Hospital's Cavell Entrance on Stepney Way, will offer GP-led healthcare 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Recognising how confusing it can be for patients to know where to go to get the right care for their urgent medical concerns, this change is in line with the national NHS long term plan, which has commissioners across England redesigning urgent care services to make sure patients receive consistently safe and fast care when they need it.
The Tower Hamlets UTC is equipped to diagnose and deal with many of the most common ailments people attend A&E for, including sprains, cuts, mild burns and many other minor issues.
Patients who go to The Royal London Hospital A&E department with non-life-threatening illnesses will be assessed and directed to the UTC, a three-minute walk across the hospital from A&E.
The UTC is just one option in the wide range of local healthcare services available. This includes visiting your local pharmacist for advice about treatments without needing to book an appointment, ringing your GP practice for bookable GP services via eConsult, the GP Out of Hours and GP Extended Access services as well as self-care at home.
Go to the Tower Hamlets Urgent Treatment Centre website page for more information.
