YORK’S NHS walk-in centre could be moved to the city’s hospital in a bid to make it easier for patients to get treatment for minor injuries.

Proposals have been drawn up to create an “urgent care centre” at York Hospital, which health bosses hope would also ease the pressure on the Wigginton Road site’s accident and emergency department.

Under the plans, which will be discussed at a meeting of City of York Council’s health overview and scrutiny committee next week, walk-in facilities would move from their current base in Monkgate, but services such as the district nurse referral team, the GP out-of-hours call centre and dental and sexual health areas would remain there.

An emergency and urgent care board, made up of representatives from North Yorkshire health organisations, has been set up to look at the proposed scheme, which must before NHS North Yorkshire and York, the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group and the York Clinical Steering Board before being approved.

A briefing which will go before next week’s meeting of the scrutiny committee said people wanting treatment for minor illness or injury attended either the Monkgate walk-in centre, the out-of-hours service or the hospital.

It said: “It is often the case that people are unsure of where they should go to access health care, particularly if they have a minor illness or injury or become ill outside normal working hours.

“The proposed urgent care centre, which will be located at York Hospital adjacent to the emergency department, will create a single point for people to access care for minor illness or injury.

“By integrating these services into a single centre, patients will be able to access the right care from the right health-care professionals at the right time.

“By separating minor illness and injury from the main emergency department, the emergency department staff will be able to focus their efforts on the most seriously ill patients.”

The report said about 52,000 of the 73,000 people who attended the hospital’s accident and emergency unit each year were seeking treatment for minor conditions.

No timescale for the move to take place has yet been given, but the emergency and urgent care board has said it will update the council in six months.