YORK MP Hugh Bayley became the latest person to cross the threshold of the city's new NHS Walk-In Centre when he officially opened the service in Monkgate today.

The centre, which is staffed entirely by nurses, has already helped about 3,000 people since its doors opened in April, and will be expanding the range of services it can offer during the coming months.

Mr Bayley said the Government was spending £280 million over three years on the pilot walk-in centres as part of its commitment to modernising the NHS, and the York service was one of only two in Yorkshire. The initiative is intended in part to take pressure off GPs and the accident and emergency department at York District Hospital.

Dr Bob Markham, chairman of York Primary Care Group, said they saw the centre as a new health resource both for residents and the three million visitors who came to York each year.

Centre manager Joanne Dicks said in the next six months they would begin to offer new services, including emergency contraception and support for people wanting to stop smoking.

The nurses there would also be able to dispense medication, within strict protocols which were being drawn up with GPs and hospital chiefs.