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Have your say on city centre NHS walk-in services
What we have now
Walk-in services are for people who want medical help or advice quickly, but where the situation is not life threatening. A walk-in service can provide an alternative way of seeing a clinician without going to your own doctor. In Sheffield city centre, there is currently a range of walk-in services:
- Sheffield City GP Health Centre on
Broad Lane, where you can see a
nurse or a doctor for any problem
you might go to your GP practice for,
including minor illness between 8am
and 8pm (adults and children).
Read more about the Sheffield City GP Health Centre - Sheffield Minor Injuries Unit at the
Royal Hallamshire Hospital, where you
can see a nurse between 8am and
8pm (for adults only).
Read more about the Sheffield Minor Injuries Unit - Sheffield Walk-in Centre at the Royal
Hallamshire Hospital, where you
can see a nurse for health problems
between 8am and 8pm.
Read more about Sheffield Walk-in Centre
In addition to these services, Sheffield also has separate children’s and adult accident and emergency (A&E) departments and an eye casualty. These services are not a part of this consultation.
What we are proposing
We want to make sure the money we spend on your behalf on walk-in services in the city centre offers the best and most effective service for patients and makes the best use of the nurses and doctors.
We’ve had lots of conversations with patients and the public. They all say the same thing - that people are confused about what walk-in services are on offer in the city centre and where they are located. They tell us that they want to go to one place where they can be seen by a range of healthcare professionals depending on their needs. We’re suggesting such a place should be called the ‘alternative to accident and emergency’.
Another reason we want to call this the ‘alternative to accident and emergency’ is that too many people are using A&E departments for minor medical problems which are neither accidents nor emergencies.
Examples of situations when you might use the alternative accident and emergency service in or out of hours:
- When your GP is closed
- When it’s inconvenient to book an appointment with your GP
- When you need to see a healthcare professional urgently
- When a telephone advice service such as NHS Direct is unable to diagnose the problem
- If you think you have a minor fracture
- If you need emergency contraception and advice and choose not to get it from your pharmacist or GP
- If you have minor burns or scalds
- If you’ve sprained or strained a part of your body
We envisage this new alternative to accident and emergency service - which would be for adults and children - would have equipment such as x-ray machines to quickly diagnose problems. This would mean you could be seen and treated for a range of illnesses and injuries including minor fractures in one place.
These proposals will not change the choices you currently have of going to see your GP, pharmacist or other health care professional.
We want your views before we develop the plans further.
What we need to happen to make it a success
Our vision for the future has three ways in which people of any age can access urgent and emergency services:
- You can get advice over the telephone e.g. NHS Direct or,
- You can walk in and see a doctor or a nurse, if you choose not to see your own GP or a pharmacist,
or, if you are unable to use either of the above:
- You can ask for a doctor to come see you e.g. by phoning your GP or dialling 999
We believe that simple, convenient and easy to access walk-in services in the city centre, which are well publicised, will help the people of Sheffield to choose the right service for their needs.
We want to create:
- A single alternative to the accident and emergency department for both adults and children based within the existing Broad Lane site.
- A service able to deal with both minor injuries and illness
- A service staffed by a variety of clinicians including GPs and nurses
- A place where people are able to obtain NHS care and treatment in situations where they need medical help or advice promptly, but not for life threatening conditions.
What will happen if things don’t change?
- People will continue to be confused by the range of different walk-in services on offer
- Opening times may not suit people’s needs
- The existing walk-in centres will remain nurse or GP led and not able to provide a full range of health services
- Parents won’t be able to take their children to the Minor Injuries Unit.
Frequently Asked Questions about the proposed changes
Have your say on city centre NHS walk-in services main page
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