Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to promote the use of urgent care centres.

A key aim of the Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services is making it easier for patients to access the right care. Urgent Treatment Centres (UTCs) are an important part of urgent and emergency care, providing patients with an alternative to accident and emergency, helping them get the right level of care and taking pressures off our Emergency Departments.

The NHS Directory of Services (DoS) enables referrals into the most appropriate urgent care service from 111 and 999, supporting better management of patients. Under the plan, a rebuild of the DoS platform will make it easier for staff in the NHS to direct people to the appropriate services.

NHS England will work with stakeholders to agree consistent approaches for patients who walk into hospitals, which will support patients to be seen in the most appropriate setting.

The plan sets out that integrated care boards (ICBs) should determine where UTCs will be most effective in their system. They may be co-located with the local emergency department or a standalone service either on or off a hospital site. Under the plan, ICB decisions about all existing services should be concluded through 2023/24.