Everything you need to know about Dartford and Gravesham urgent treatment centre public consultation
Have your say on plans for new urgent treatment centre this month as three public consultation events take place.
The Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is urging people to have their say on the future location of an Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC).
Darent Valley Hospital, in Dartford, and Gravesham Community Hospital, in Bath Street, Gravesend, have been earmarked as two potential sites for the creation of the centre, in a bid to reduce the pressure on A&E departments.
Three events are being held for people to go along to give their views. All take place between 6pm to 8pm with the first being held on Monday, at Princes Suite, Princes Park Stadium, Darenth Road, Dartford.
The second will take place on Wednesday, October 16, at Alexandra Suite, St Mary’s Road, Swanley and the final event will be held on Wednesday, October 30, at Gravesham Civic Centre, Windmill Street, Gravesend.
Dr Nigel Sewell, a local GP and the urgent care clinical lead for the CCG, said: “We’ve had a great response to our public consultation so far and thank you to everyone who has contributed already.
“But we want to encourage more local people to come forward and have their say about where we should put the new Urgent Treatment Centre.
“These public meetings offer a great opportunity for the public to hear more about our plans to improve urgent care services and give us more detailed feedback about the proposals.”
Since the consultation was launched in August, more than 1,600 people have completed the survey on the proposed plans and the CCG has spoke to more than 900 people at 25 roadshows held in Dartford, Gravesend and Swanley.
Both options will bring together the existing urgent care services already provided by the Minor Injuries Unit at the community hospital in Gravesend and the White Horse Walk-in Centre at the Fleet Health Campus, in Northfleet, all under one roof to create the new UTC.
The first option is to create a UTC by relocating services from the White Horse Walk-in Centre to join the Minor Injuries Unit at Gravesham Community Hospital. The A&E department at Darent Valley Hospital will remain unchanged under this option.
The second option is to locate the centre alongside the A&E department at Darent Valley Hospital by moving the existing urgent care services from Gravesham Community Hospital and the White Horse Walk-in Centre.
Both the Fleet Health Campus and Gravesham Community Hospital sites will continue to provide NHS services, with the option to use the additional space to develop more health services, such as other GP services and community-based outpatient clinics.
Patients will also be able to access the GP out of hours services and the home visiting services at both sites by calling NHS111.
To book your place, email dgs.communications@nhs.net or call 03000 424903.
The consultation runs until midnight on November 4.
For more information about the proposals, forthcoming roadshows or to download a copy of the full consultation document, go to www.dartfordgraveshamswanleyccg.nhs.uk.
Read more: All the latest news from Gravesend