A PUBLIC consultation over plans to move the remaining breast services from Warrington Hospital to a new town centre clinic has now closed.
A decision will now be made on proposals to cease remaining screening services at Warrington Hospital, with Warrington screening to be consolidated at Bath Street Medical Centre.
It comes after assessment and symptomatic clinics were relocated from the Lovely Lane site to a state-of-the-art breast centre at Halton Hospital.
The £1.3million project was subject to public consultation in spring 2021, and another consultation was held for the remaining breast move.
The remaining space at the hospital’s Kendrick Wing, the oldest part of the hospital estate, would be occupied by non-patient facing services.
Lucy Gardner, the hospital trust’s director of strategy and partnerships, said: “At the time of the (first) consultation, the availability of space and the necessary funding to develop the existing screening service at Bath Street was uncertain.
“The trust is now able to move forward with the expansion of screening services at Bath Street, hence this second and final public consultation.
Bath Street Medical Centre in the town centre
“The benefits for service users include a more central location, plentiful free car parking and better public transport links, easier access to the clinic once on site and new equipment in purpose-built clinical facilities.
“Current staff will relocate with their service and there will be no change to staffing levels, with no member of staff disadvantaged by the relocation.
“It is really important that local people have their say on these proposals and share any suggestions they may have to help us improve the service.”
The new breast centre in Halton enabled the relocation of the assessment and symptomatic clinics to create a ‘one-stop shop’, offering support to patients with anomalies on routine breast screening.
It also offers help to those who have noticed breast changes or found lumps that are referred in by their GP, while women can now also select this location for their routine screening appointments.
Through the consultation, wide support was shown for the relocation of the breast screening assessment and symptomatic clinics from Warrington Hospital to Halton.
Views were given by residents as part of this latest consultation through an online questionnaire, with more than 120 people sharing their thoughts either online, visiting clinics or taking part in virtual consultation events.
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