PLANS for a formal consultation on urgent care services are being drawn up for County Durham.

NHS Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield Clinical Commissioning Group [CCG] has been reviewing services but says that no decisions have been made on the future of urgent care centres in Bishop Auckland, Seaham and Peterlee.

It is not yet known what proposals are being made in relation to urgent care.

The CCG has been reviewing the service for two years and following work with patient reference groups, NHS staff, local health networks, area action partnerships and community groups it is now planning a formal public consultation.

Dr Stewart Findlay, chief clinical officer, said: “As we have seen up and down the country, the urgent care system quite simply does not provide the service that we need deliver to be safe and sustainable into the long-term.

“The aim is to commission urgent care which people find simple to understand and gets people prompt treatment or advice for their urgent care need, making best use of the medical workforce and without additional pressure on A&E.

“It’s important to understand that no decisions have yet been made about what future services may look like.”

The review was carried out as part of the NHS England transforming urgent and emergency care review, which is being done nationally to provide a responsive service to people with urgent but non-life threatening needs outside of hospital and to treat those with serious, life-threatening emergency needs in centres of expertise.

A CCG spokesperson said: “Through previous extensive engagement, local people have had the opportunity to shape the way the services should look and have helped Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield to develop their plans.

“In the near future we will be sharing the proposed model via a public consultation.”

Details of the consultation will be made available on www.durhamdaleseasingtonsedgefieldccg.nhs.uk