The NHS are currently rolling out Urgent Treatment Centres across the country. The reason for this is to reduce the pressure on A&E Departments. The UTCs will replace the current provision of a Minor Injuries Unit at Gravesend Hospital and the Walk In White Horse Surgery at Northfleet. Research has shown that many people are confused as to which is the appropriate place to visit.
In August 2019 the Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley Clinical Commissioning Group ran a consultation on the site of the local UTC. They had two options - Gravesend Hospital or Darent Valley Hospital. They appeared to favour the latter option, because it offered the greater scope to reduce the pressure on A&E. From a Hartley point of view, their transport modelling found that Darent Valley was preferable in terms of times taken to get there either by car or bus.
80% of the 16,374 replies favoured Gravesend Hospital though. Unfortunately the questionnaire only asked for the first 3 digits of the postcode, so a DA1 reply might have meant DA1 (Dartford) or DA11/12/13 (Gravesend) for example. People tended to vote for the site nearest them, but concerns about parking and public transport weighed against the Darent Valley option too.
Official responses from neighbouring health areas did highlight the potential effect on them, depending on which site was chosen. Darent Valley was the preferred site for the Bexley and West Kent CCGs because they felt a site a Gravesend would send patients in their direction. Similar concerns of patients crossing borders led Medway CCG to prefer Gravesend. Darent Valley Hospital had done some research on cases currently streamed to the minor injury section, and reckoned a UTC on site would reduce this number by 79%.
The outcome is that there will now be two UTCs, one at Gravesend Hospital and one co-located with the A&E Department at Darent Valley Hospital.