RESIDENTS are invited to have their say on proposals to improve urgent care services across Bury.

Bury Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is hosting a series of public meetings, the first of which will be held next week.

A four-week public consultation on the borough's urgent care provision began on February 10.

Clinical commissioners previously said the current urgent care arrangements are 'confusing'.

This has left a number of people not knowing the appropriate service to attend for injuries or minor ailments, they claim.

Health chiefs believe many go to either A&E or a walk-in centre and wait a few hours to be seen, when another service might have been more suited their needs.

And the feedback from patients has been that they often have to go to more than one place to get the right care. People also value the option to ‘walk in’ to a service.

Urgent care services are for things that are not an emergency, but at the same time can’t wait, for example a person might be looking for some urgent advice, an urgent GP appointment or a walk in service to help with a minor ailment or injury.

Under the consultation, a number of options are being put forward. The preferred choice would see a redesign of urgent care at Fairfield General to create a new urgent treatment centre (UTC), open 24/7. This would mean relocating Bury walk-in centre.

The UTC would also include mental health services, GP out of hours services and the treatment of less serious cases that are currently seen in A&E.

Residents are invited to share their views during the meeting at Bury Town Hall’s Elizabethan Suite on Tuesday, February 25. The meeting will begin at 12.30pm.

Patients have also been encouraged to complete an survey, available on the CCG website, or in hard copy from GP surgeries and walk-in centres.

The consultation ends on Sunday, March 8, 2020.