Carlisle MP Julie Minns is ‘thrilled’ as funding for a new £12m Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) at the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle has been approved.

The new UTC is part of a longer term plan to improve access to urgent care services in Carlisle easing emergency department pressures.

Reacting to the news that funding for a new £12m urgent treatment centre has been approved, Carlisle MP Julie Minns said: “I am thrilled to see this vital funding has been approved, to help improve access to urgent care services in Carlisle.

“The new Labour Government is committed to rebuilding our NHS after 14 years of mismanagement, and Carlisle will benefit greatly from this investment in our health and wellbeing.”

The current Emergency Department was built with capacity for 30,000 attendances each year.

Last year the Emergency Department had 78,300 attendances which is more than two and half times its current capacity. 

This often lead to difficulties with overcrowding in the department and issues with privacy and dignity for patients.

Mike Rickards, Consultant in Emergency Medicine at North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded funding for the UTC in Carlisle. It will make a real difference to our patients.

“Opening the UTC will help ensure patients are seen in the right place at the right time by the correct clinician. The centre will also provide great support to the main Emergency Department by freeing up capacity for patients who are acutely unwell.

“We know our patients want as smooth a journey as possible when receiving treatment and urgent care services help ensure this is the case.

“The centres will also help keep our emergency care departments free for what they are there for – emergencies.”

The UTC will be built next to the existing emergency department and will have 12 new clinic rooms with a separate waiting area for children and adults.

Patients who need to use the Emergency Department and the Urgent Treatment Centre will enter through the same route and be directed to the right service for their needs when they are assessed.

Cumbria Health, who provide out of hours GP services will also be located in the UTC once it is complete which means that patients will have seamless access to the right service.

Cumbria Health have been temporarily relocated from the emergency department to the ground floor of the Cumberland Infirmary to free up space in the meantime.  

Work will start to build the new UTC in the new year and is expected to be open by the end of 2025.