WARRINGTON looks set to finally get an Urgent Treatment Centre – but a councillor has warned that a major new healthcare facility will count for little if patients cannot get to it.
Plans for the long-awaited facility at Warrington Hospital were discussed by the borough’s Health Scrutiny Committee, with NHS bosses confirming that work is progressing on a business case for a co-located Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC).
The project is intended to tackle increasing pressure on urgent and emergency care services, improve access to same-day treatment and ensure patients are treated in the most appropriate setting.
And there is little doubt that Warrington needs it.
The official scrutiny report states that Warrington is currently one of only a few areas in Cheshire and Merseyside without access to an Urgent Treatment Centre within the borough.
The proposed development would create a 600 square metre UTC, alongside a further 600 square metres of refurbished space within the existing Emergency Department footprint.
The NHS says the scheme could help reduce unnecessary hospital admissions, improve ambulance handover times, support performance against four-hour and 12-hour targets and assist with the ambition to eliminate corridor care.
It would also give Warrington residents access to a Type 3 urgent treatment facility within the borough, including communities identified among some of the town’s most deprived neighbourhoods.
But while the principle of the UTC has been welcomed, questions are being raised about whether the existing hospital site is the right location – particularly when it comes to parking, traffic and access.
Independent councillor Stuart Mann said the need for the facility was beyond question, but warned that the practical problems facing patients and visitors must not be ignored.
“There is no question Warrington needs an Urgent Treatment Centre and it is good to finally see the project moving forward.
“But a number of us raised concerns about the chosen location. The hospital is already difficult to access at busy times and parking is a longstanding problem.
“If we are going to invest in this new facility, access and parking need to be addressed as part of the project, not as an afterthought.”
Those concerns strike at one of the biggest challenges facing the proposed development.
Warrington Hospital is already a major destination for patients, visitors, staff and ambulances, and congestion and parking have been longstanding frustrations.
The danger is that a facility designed to make urgent healthcare more accessible could leave patients facing additional difficulties before they even reach the doors.
The NHS Trust says additional parking is being considered as part of the wider development, potentially including a multi-storey car park, with the intention that extra capacity should be available when the UTC opens.
The scrutiny papers confirm that NHS England funding has already been approved to support the design development and preparation of the Outline and Final Business Cases, with further funding ringfenced for construction subject to approval of a robust Final Business Case.
Opening still more than two years away
Despite the latest progress, Warrington residents will still have to wait.
The current programme envisages the Full Business Case being submitted in summer 2027, construction beginning in winter 2027, and the UTC opening around the start of 2029.
That means the town could be waiting until 2029 before residents finally have access to a service which other parts of Cheshire and Merseyside already provide.
For councillors scrutinising the scheme, the challenge now is to ensure that the project does not simply become another long-awaited healthcare promise.
The NHS says the co-located UTC will improve patient experience and access to urgent and emergency care, while helping transform the wider urgent and emergency care pathway.
But as Cllr Mann points out, access is about more than simply putting a new building on a hospital site.
For an elderly patient, a parent with a sick child, someone with mobility problems or a patient arriving by car in an emergency, being able to park and reach the facility quickly can be just as important as the treatment available inside it.
And with the UTC intended to take pressure off the existing Emergency Department, the stakes are high.
The scrutiny committee’s own work programme specifically identifies the UTC as an issue requiring increased transparency and accountability, including examining progress and barriers to delivery and identifying practical recommendations to improve timely and equitable access to urgent healthcare within Warrington.
The message from scrutiny is therefore clear:
Warrington needs its Urgent Treatment Centre – but it needs the whole package.
A new UTC without adequate parking, traffic management and easy access would risk creating a new problem while attempting to solve another.
After years of waiting, residents will expect the promised facility to be delivered – and delivered properly.
