Overnight closures at Newark Hospital Urgent Care Centre from next week

The Sherwood Forest Hospitals’ NHS Foundation Trust has announced that the Urgent Care Centre at Newark Hospital will be temporarily closed between 10pm and 9am from Monday as a response to Coronavirus.

The overnight closure is scheduled to last for three months from the 6th April initially.

The Trust have confirmed that the Urgent Care Centre will return to its current operating model once it is safe to do so, when the Coronavirus pandemic pressures reduce.

The Urgent Care Centre will remain open and operating as usual from 9am until 10pm, allowing for walk-in patients to attend for urgent care needs.

Richard Mitchell, Chief Executive for Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS FT said:

“We did not take this decision lightly, but this is a planned move in order for us to maintain a safe level of staffing and to focus colleagues where we need them the most during this challenging time. This decision was taken with the full agreement of clinical colleagues.”

He continued, “We know the number of patients we see overnight at Newark is very low, and this change will help us centralise our colleagues to make sure we can give the best care possible to the patients that will need it the most during the unprecedented challenge of coronavirus.

“I would like to reassure colleagues and patients that the Newark Urgent Care Centre will return to its current overnight hours once we are able to do so.”

“In the meantime we continue to urge all of our community to follow the Government’s Stay Home, Save Lives message to help tackle the spread of the virus.”

Anyone who needs urgent care between 10pm and 9am is asked to attend their next nearest Urgent Care facility or to access NHS111 online or over the phone for advice.

Capacity within the 111 service has been significantly increased to deal with the Coronavirus outbreak.  The 111 service will be able to provide advice about whether patients need an overnight consultation and get clinical advice where required. In an emergency, you should phone 999.

Government advice is to not go to your GP, pharmacy or hospital if you have symptoms associated with coronavirus.

Instead you should stay at home for at least 7 days if you have either:

• a high temperature and/or
• a new continuous cough.

If you live with other people, they should stay at home for 14 days from the day the first person got symptoms. 

We would like to thank you for your co-operation and support in helping us limit the spread of coronavirus.