More than 500 people have been treated at Penrith’s Urgent Treatment Centre since a change in opening hours was introduced last November, health bosses have revealed.
The new hours, which saw the end of the overnight walk-in service, have allowed for staff training to take place, a key factor which was raised by the North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the centre, at the time of the change.
Diane Brunskill, a staff nurse at the UTC, helped lead the training process for the team to gain the extra skills they needed. She explained: “Since last year, every single member of staff in the UTC has gained the new skills of managing PICC lines and Hickman lines as well as delivering infusions.
“Most staff are also now trained in blood transfusions and we have a plan to get everyone trained as soon as we can. I’m really proud of the team because it was a big change for them and took confidence to learn and to start to deliver this care.
“We are delivering care that we didn’t have the skills to before, to patients in the local area and it means they don’t have to travel to Carlisle or Whitehaven — we made that happen for our patients.”
Sam Budd, senior staff nurse added: “It is the community that has benefited the most, because they don’t have to travel. The new way of working lets us go on a journey with the patient, we’ve got time talk to the patient and we feel much more part of the community.
“It’s also nice for the patients as they are getting continuity of care, you’ll probably see the same person when you come in for your treatment and even if you don’t we’ll pop in and say hello. We are genuinely interested in our patients and they are interested in us. It’s nice.”
Now the staff are trained, they have capacity to support more patients, says the health trust.
Zoe Rigg, manager for both Penrith and Keswick UTCs, said: “We know these services are needed in the community and now we are all upskilled we are hoping that more patients will be referred here for their treatment.
“It is important that we make sure patients don’t travel further than they need to. Last week I had a patient who told me he was so grateful for the fact he could get his ongoing treatment here instead of having to go to Carlisle as it would have been a 60-mile round trip for him.
“Looking at future demands, we aim to continue the upskilling of staff and resources available to help meet the community needs.”
The team also plays a key role in supporting tourists. For example anyone with a PICC line who requires its weekly management of flushing and dressing change can be referred to the service, including those from out of area.
Between Monday and Friday the team has supported a growing number of patients for scheduled care by appointments. This is as well as supporting people who walk into the unit for urgent treatment.
“The team is very positive and have the potential to expand the scheduled services offered since undertaking further training. They want to start doing more infusions including iron, zoledronic acid and immunoglobulin therapy as well as other IV therapies,” said Zoe.
“We can already do some blood transfusions but we are keen to get more of the team trained up with that skill so that we have a more robust service.
“Being able to offer blood transfusions here is really important, the treatment itself is three to five hours long so reducing the travel time to the treatment is really important.”
Linda Bell, former nurse and chair of the League of Friends, congratulated the staff saying: “As League of Friends, we are thrilled to have the UTC and developing scheduled care service in Penrith. All credit to the wonderful staff for taking on the challenge and making a difference.”
In a statement at the time of the change to opening hours, setting out the background and future plans, the health trust added: “Staff shortages have led to Penrith UTC sometimes having to close overnight at short notice.
“The trust has explored options to increase staffing levels — but this has not proved possible. The staff themselves explained that because there are very few patients during the overnight walk-in service they can’t keep up their clinical practices and their skills are being diminished.”
