EMOTIONS ran high in a hot and crowded room at the Longfield Suite in Prestwich this evening, as the public gathered to express their views on plans to close the village’s walk-in centre.

Representatives from Bury Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) were at the Prestwich Township Forum meeting as part of a community engagement process to discuss radical plans to reorganise urgent care provision, which could see both Prestwich Walk-in Centre and Bury Urgent Treatment Centre close.

After a 20-minute presentation from Dr Victoria Moyle, lead GP for urgent care at the CCG, and Margaret O’Dwyer, the group’s deputy chief officer, the room was opened to the public for comments and questions.

What followed in the next 75 minutes were passionate defences of the town’s walk-in centres and vehement expressions of concern about what will happen to urgent care in the area if they are closed.

One resident, who said she had visited Prestwich Walk-in Centre, in Fairfax Road, five times in the last two years, said: “I have received several injections there and also visited for other reasons.

“I have always found the centre to be an absolutely brilliant, thoroughly professional service.

“I also have four grandchildren who suffer from things like asthma to rashes, and I can tell you I cannot speak highly enough of the treatment they have received.

“Before making these changes, do you actually intend now to take into account the opinions of people who actually use the walk-in centres?”

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Another member of the public blamed Conservative government cuts to the NHS for the proposals.

He said: "This is another disgraceful cut to vital services.

"This is not about restructuring urgent care provision, this is about cutting corners and cutting costs."

The CCG’s plans include an additional urgent care element at Fairfield General Hospital that would see patients who do not need to be at A&E being assessed and treated by primary care staff.

But councillor Tim Pickstone (LD, Holyrood) said the walk-in service originally opened to relieve A&E.

“I cannot see any reason at all why closing the walk-in centre will not make A&E worse,” he added.

“It is a very simple service, which is well-used and well loved, and we are very worried about losing it.”

Urgent care services are those that are designed to assist with patients with an illness or injury that does not appear to be an emergency, but is considered too urgent to wait for routine care.

The CCG maintains that the current urgent care system in Bury leads to confusion for patients in terms of which service will best meet their needs, where to access that service and when.

In addition to the urgent care element at Fairfield General Hospital, one of the CCG’s proposals to deal with this problem is the creation of a single point of entry for patients in Bury who require urgent care via a telephone advice service to complement the NHS 111 advice line.

Dr Moyle said: “No decisions have been made yet and I welcome all these comments, this is a consultation period and this is what it is for.

“New local services and new ways of working have evolved that have prompted this review and given us the opportunity to shape efficient and flexible services for the future.”

There are a number of ways you can have your say on the CCG’s proposals:

An online survey is available at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/2BNQJG5 and a paper copy of the survey can be obtained by calling 0161 762 3166 or by emailing buccg.communications@nhs.net.

Views can be sent in via the CCG website feedback facility; by e-mail as above or by letter to NHS Bury Clinical Commissioning Group, Communications and Engagement Team (Urgent Care Redesign), 21 Silver Street, Bury, BL9 0EN.

The period of public engagement will run until October 31, 2016.