Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Closing walk-in centres may make it harder for people to see GPs - and risks sending more people to A&E, warns healthcare regulator Monitor.
It reviewed the walk-in centre service after the closure of 50 of the 230 in England in the last three years.
Monitor found the centres are popular with the public, but critics fear they can mean duplication of services.
The government said walk-in centres were "one part" of out-of-hours care.
As part of its review, Monitor surveyed just under 1,900 patients at 20 walk-in centres.
When patients were asked where they would have gone if the walk-in centre had not been available, 21% said they would have gone to A&E, while a third would go to their own or a different GP.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24852768
It reviewed the walk-in centre service after the closure of 50 of the 230 in England in the last three years.
Monitor found the centres are popular with the public, but critics fear they can mean duplication of services.
The government said walk-in centres were "one part" of out-of-hours care.
As part of its review, Monitor surveyed just under 1,900 patients at 20 walk-in centres.
When patients were asked where they would have gone if the walk-in centre had not been available, 21% said they would have gone to A&E, while a third would go to their own or a different GP.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24852768