Preferred provider named for new urgent care centre

Nick Willmott, chair of the walk-in centre transition board for the commissioning group, said: “We have conducted a thorough procurement process and are confident that the right organisation for the job has been selected.

“We are also pleased that GPs in the West Leicestershire CCG area support CNCS being named as the preferred provider and look forward to working with them to offer improved health services for the people of Loughborough and the surrounding area.”

Anita Dixon, chief executive of CNCS, said: “We will be working in partnership with local GPs to ensure that the service we provide will be of the highest quality and standard to meet local patient needs.”

The new urgent care centre will offer observation bays to allow patients to be monitored at the centre, for example, following an asthma attack. Currently these patients need to be transferred to larger hospitals.

With a range of clinicians already based at the hospital there is also the potential to access their expertise on site. For example, doctors who specialise in the care of older people currently run clinics at the hospital.

The move will mean that patients who require urgent care but not acute A&E services can be treated at Loughborough Hospital and will not have to travel to Leicester Royal Infirmary.

Work has already started on site to improve the car parking and upgrade what was an outpatients department to accommodate the new service.