HEALTH chiefs are planning to develop a dedicated out-of-hours medical centre at a hospital in Middlesbrough.

Middlesbrough Primary Care Trust (PCT) will invest £250,000 to provide round-the- clock care so residents do not have to travel to the out-of-hours centre in Teesdale Park, Thornaby, if they require emergency treatment.

Instead, they will be able to go to an emergency care centre at James Cook University Hospital, where healthcare services in the town are to be centralised.

The scheme will cost £1m a year to run but all the necessary equipment will be available on site so it will effectively be a one-stop shop.

It will be located near the casualty department at the site in Marton Road.

"It is very different from accident and emergency because there you just walk in off the street, but here you have an assessment on the phone before you are advised to go to the out-of-hours centre," said Middlesbrough PCT chief executive Colin McCleod.

"If people can wait for the surgery to open in the morning it means they will be able to see their own GP and reduce the burden on a stretch-ed out-of-hours service.

"But if someone really needs urgent care we would rather they went to the centre because the range of services and treatment they get is far better than they would at home. Of course, if someone is housebound then we will make every effort to come out and see them."

At present, services between 6pm and 8am are provided by GPs with some operating an on-call service while others give contracts to providers such as Primecare.

In the future the responsibility of providing the service will be with the PCT with individual GPs having to decide whether they want to provide an out-of-hours service.

Also available at the emergency care centre will be an acute assessment unit where people suffering from heart attacks, strokes or chest infections can be admitted to hospital quickly.

Annette Hurndall, South Tees Hospitals Trust divisional manager for medicine, said: "This should drastically improve the services to local people. We are looking forward to working more closely with our GP colleagues and should build up some excellent working relationships and benefit from our shared knowledge."

The facility is expected to be completed next year.