WARRINGTON Clinical Commissioning Group says there is no prospect of an urgent care centre being built in the town to help cure the hospital’s troubled A&E department.

The A&E department at Warrington Hospital has been in turmoil during the first few months of 2016, with issues first placed squarely in the spotlight when its full capacity protocol was activated for a week at the start of January.

At times patient levels in the department were 50 per cent higher than their maximum capacity, with the queue for treatment measured as long as eight hours.

The full capacity protocol was then activated again on February 9 and has remained in place on and off for more than a month – the intervening period has seen patients being transport to urgent care centres at Halton Hospital by the Red Cross.

But Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group says that an urgent care centre in the town would not be a proper solution to the problem, with waiting times caused by ‘internal issues’ at the hospital rather than high patient numbers.

A spokesman from Warrington CCG said: “The waiting time issues at A&E are not related to a significant unprecedented increase in demand or high levels of unnecessary attendances.

“The recent increased waiting times were a symptom of internal operational issues relating to patient flows and discharges, including capacity challenges across the wider health and social care system.

“The initiative to transport patients to the Halton urgent care centre was a short-term solution put in place by the trust to alleviate some of the pressure whilst they worked to address the underlying difficulties.”

The CCG pointed to the closure of the walk-in centre on Sankey Street in 2010 due to lack of demand as an example of why an urgent care centre would be inappropriate.

The spokesman added: “In terms of the need for an urgent care centre, in 2008 the former PCT did commission an equitable access centre in the town centre offering appointments seven days a week – after two years of operation the centre was decommissioned due to lack of demand and use.”

But the CCG says it is undertaking a review of primary care services in the town, including out-of-hours and acute visiting.

Their spokesman said: “As a responsible commissioner the CCG is committed to ensuring that every penny spent on local health care services meets the needs of the local population – the CCG is however reviewing what is provided across primary care for urgent care needs.

“The scope of this review includes the out-of-hours service, acute visiting service and extended access service.

“The CCG, in partnership with Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, are also progressing the national ambulatory emergency care programme and will be working together to design services within the hospital, reducing the need for short stays.”