A new £12m urgent treatment centre at Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary to ease pressure on the NHS has been given the go-ahead.
Cumberland Council granted full planning permission for the scheme this week.
The single-storey centre, with 12 consultation rooms, will be built next to the existing A&E department.
North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust said the new centre was driven out of the need for the service and to deal with increasing waiting times and use of A&E department and it was considered that it would significantly improve health services for north Cumbria.
The current A&E department was built with capacity for 30,000 attendances each year.
In 2023, there were 78,300 attendances – more than two-and-a-half times its current capacity. It leads to overcrowding in the department and issues with privacy, the trust said.
Plans were given outline approval in September and the Government gave the go-ahead for the £12m funding in November.
Patients who need to use A&E and the centre will enter through the same route and be directed to the right service for their needs when they are assessed.
When the funding was announced, Mike Rickards, consultant in emergency medicine at North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It will make a real difference to our patients.
“Opening the centre will help ensure patients are seen in the right place at the right time by the correct clinician. The centre will also provide great support to the main Emergency Department by freeing up capacity for patients who are acutely unwell.
We know our patients want as smooth a journey as possible when receiving treatment and urgent care services help ensure this is the case.
“The centres will also help keep our emergency care departments free for what they are there for – emergencies.”
Cumbria Health, which provides out of hours GP services will also be located in the centre once it is complete which means that patients will have seamless access to the right service.
Cumbria Health has been temporarily relocated from the emergency department to the ground floor of the Cumberland Infirmary to free up space in the meantime.
Work will start to build the new centre in the new year and it is expected it to be open by the end of this year.
