Vacancies and unforeseen staff absences mean that Keswick Urgent Treatment Centre will close for three days this week.
On other days, it will shut at 4.30pm.
The Keswick centre is usually open every day from 8.30am until 6pm.
Today, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, it will close at 4.30pm and will close completely tomorrow, Tuesday August 19, Saturday and Sunday.
During the closures, the urgent treatment centre at Penrith and A&E departments at Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary and the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven are still open as usual. The opening hours for Penrith Urgent Treatment Centre are 8am to 10pm.
Imran Devji, chief operating officer at the North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our priority is always to provide safe, high-quality care for our patients and we are closely monitoring our ability to operate all our urgent treatment centre sites safely and effectively.
“On occasions, this has meant we have needed to temporarily close Keswick Urgent Treatment Centre to make sure we have safe staffing to deliver the expected level of care to our local communities. We acknowledge that this is not the level of service we want to provide for our local communities.
“We appreciate that this may cause some inconvenience, and we are grateful for your patience and understanding while we work hard to restore our full service as quickly as possible. Recruitment is already well underway, and we are making progress in strengthening our team.”
Opening hours this week
- Monday: 8.30am to 4.30pm
- Tuesday: Closed
- Wednesday: 8.30am to 4.30pm
- Thursday: 8.30am to 4.30pm
- Friday: 8.30am to 4.30pm
- Saturday: Closed
- Sunday: Closed
People are reminded that Penrith Urgent Treatment Centre is equipped to diagnose and treat many of the most common ailments. A&E departments have to prioritise the most serious cases first.
