A ‘WALK-IN’ Emergency Department planned for a new outpatients’ centre in town is unlikely to be open 24 hours a day, it has emerged.
Government officials said during a recent event that the current consideration was 9am to 9pm, but opening could be extended on Friday and Saturday evenings.
However, it was noted that plans were at an early stage and the exact hours were yet to be determined.
When the future town ‘Urgent Treatment Centre’ is closed, people in need of immediate care would have to go to a 24-hour Emergency Department at a new ‘acute’ hospital, which the government is intending to build at Overdale.
The latest thinking around the government’s New Healthcare Facilities programme – which is based on spreading care around several sites to be built in phases over the next decade – was explained during a public Q&A session, which was also broadcast online.
Michelle West, who is the senior official from Health on the project, said: ‘We will look at all of the activity data to determine the suitable opening hours, which could include extended times to cater for the night-time economy.’
Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet, who is leading the new programme, added that if the previous single-site Our Hospital project had gone ahead, all A&E services would have moved to Overdale, so retaining a walk-in centre in Kensington Place/Gloucester Street was an additional benefit of the new proposals.
One of the five members of the studio audience, Old St John’s Road resident Mike Graham, urged the government to maintain a 24-hour Emergency Department in town, as there is now. Deputy Binet said he understood that sentiment, which would form part of ongoing discussions.
The New Healthcare Facilities Programme proposes that all ambulances bringing in patients in an emergency would drive up Westmount Road to a new 48,000sq-m acute hospital, due to open in 2028, but Islanders taking themselves to the Emergency Department would go to the ‘Urgent Treatment Centre’ off Kensington Place/Gloucester Street.
This will be part of a 25,000sq-m hospital, which includes a new block on a now-cleared site where the Revere and Stafford hotels once stood.
