Urgent Treatment Centre (St. Mary's)

To ensure continuity of the service, a short term contract from 1st April 2022 to 31st January 2023 (10 months) has been awarded to Vocare Ltd whilst undergoing a procurement exercise for the service. Market Engagement has been undertaken in advance.

The procurement is currently underway, FTS Notice reference: 2022/S 000-013667.

The UTC is located at St Mary's Hospital.

The core set of standards for urgent treatment centres (UTC) are:

• a.To be able to access urgent treatment centres that are GP- led, staffed by GPs, nurses and other clinicians, with access to simple diagnostics, e.g. urinalysis, ECG and in some cases X-ray.

• b.Have a consistent route to access urgent appointments offered within 4hrs and booked through NHS 111, ambulance services and general practice. A walk-in access option will be

available.

• c.Increasingly be able to access routine and same-day appointments, and out-of-hours general practice, for both urgent and routine appointments, at the same facility, where geographically appropriate.

• d.Know that the urgent treatment centre is part of locally integrated urgent and emergency care services working in conjunction with the ambulance service, NHS111, local GPs, hospital A&E services and other local providers.

The impact will be reduced attendance at, and conveyance to, A&E as a result of this standardisation and simplified access, as well as improved patient convenience.