More than 1,000 people have responded to a local NHS survey about urgent care in North Lincolnshire.

Local people were given the opportunity to share their views on plans to change the way urgent healthcare services work in North Lincolnshire.

1,057 people, with a mixture of ages and from a variety of communities and backgrounds, completed the survey. This feedback is now being used to develop a new urgent treatment centre which best meets public needs based on survey evidence.

Mark Williams, Head of Communications and Engagement at NHS North Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “Firstly, we would like to thank everyone in North Lincolnshire who took the time to get involved and fill in our urgent care survey. It really does make a difference.

“It is pleasing to see the vast majority of the 1,057 responses agree that the development of an urgent treatment centre would help improve services locally. This is of course very quick, initial feedback and a full report on the engagement findings is now being put together. This will be shared with members of the public as soon as possible.

“It is vital we take on your views and, as a result, your helpful information will now feed into the urgent treatment centre’s service specification.”

Mr Williams added: “We have been extremely pro-active with our approach to informing residents about this development and were delighted to build new relationships in the community in the process. We are committed to speaking to as many people as possible and enjoyed visits to local seniors’ forums, mosques, the local youth council, parent groups, the local maternity group, patient participation groups, the local hospital, GP waiting rooms and many more. We also spoke to members of the homeless community as this feedback too is so very important.

“We look forward to sharing our full report, and what we plan to do with that information, with the public in due course.”

In line with national NHS guidance, North Lincolnshire CCG is developing plans for an urgent treatment centre, which will be co-located alongside the Accident and Emergency department at Scunthorpe General Hospital.

The additional, GP-led service will help safeguard A&E services for those that have a genuine emergency need.

The two co-located services will mean that anyone attending the hospital without an emergency need will be seen by the UTC, which will act as a ‘new front door’ to the hospital.

NHS North Lincolnshire CCG will soon publish a report on the findings of the survey. The results will be shared with the CCG’s commissioning team to feed into a service specification for the procurement of the new urgent treatment centre.