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It is unlikely that a ‘walk-in’ A&E department planned for a new outpatients’ centre in town will be open 24 hours a day, it has emerged.
Government officials said during an event last night that the current consideration was 09:00 – 21:00 but opening could be extended on Friday and Saturday evenings.
However, it was noted that thinking was at an early stage and the exact hours were yet to be determined.
When the town ‘Urgent Treatment Centre’ was closed, people in need of immediate care would have to go to a 24-hour Emergency Department at a new ‘acute’ hospital the Government is intending to build at Overdale.
The latest thinking around the Government’s ‘New Healthcare Facilities’ programme – which is based on spreading care around several sites to be built in phases over the next decade – was shared during a public ‘Q&A’ session on Wednesday evening, which was also broadcast online.
Video: The fact that the new walk-in A&E might not be a 24/7 operation was revealed in a Government Q&A session held last night.
Michelle West, who is the senior official from Health on the project, said: “We will look at all of the activity data to determine the suitable opening hours, which could include extended times to cater for the night-time economy.”
Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet, who is leading the new hospitals’ programme, added that if the previous single-site Our Hospital project had gone ahead, all A&E services would have moved to Overdale, so retaining a walk-in centre in Kensington Place / Gloucester Street was an additional benefit of the new proposals.
One of the five members of the studio audience, Old St. John's Road resident Mike Graham, urged the Government to maintain a 24-hour A&E department in town, as there is now.
Deputy Binet said he understood that sentiment, which would form part of ongoing discussions.
The New Healthcare Facilities Programme proposes that all ambulances bringing in patients in an emergency would drive up Westmount Road to a new 48,000m2 acute hospital, due to open in 2028, but islanders taking themselves to A&E would go to the ‘Urgent Treatment Centre’ off Kensington Place / Gloucester Street.
This will be part of a 25,000 m2 hospital, which includes a new block on a now-cleared site where the Revere and Stafford hotels once stood.
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