Page updated: 20 Aug 2009
PCT announces ‘365 days a year’ health centre
Trafford Primary Care Trust (PCT) has announced that it will be opening a brand new health centre on 1 October that will provide a '365 days a year' service.
Based at Trafford General Hospital, the new centre will mean that people from across the borough will be able to 'drop-in' to see a GP between 8am and 8pm, seven days a week, including bank holidays.
When it opens the health centre will also be looking after registered patients from Flixton's Crescent Medical Practice at Woodsend Clinic, while the service at Woodsend Clinic will become a branch surgery that will be open for two hours a day, Monday to Friday.
Both the new health centre and Crescent Medical Practice will be managed on behalf of Trafford PCT by Mastercall Healthcare, the organisation that already looks after the borough's 'out-of-hours' emergency service.
Gina Lawrence, executive director of commissioning at Trafford PCT says, “This new health centre will provide a really convenient service for people across Trafford, not only in terms of the extensive hours during which GPs will be accessible, but also because they will be able to turn up without an appointment."
Registered patients at Crescent Medical Practice are currently in the process of being consulted about how they would like their new branch surgery and services at the health centre to be run in the lead up to 1 October when the changes will take place.
Michaela Buck, managing director of Mastercall, adds, “We are looking forward to working with the PCT to provide an enhanced and more flexible access to GP services for all Trafford residents."
Mastercall Healthcare is a not-for-profit healthcare provider managed by local NHS professionals. The organisation was formed in 1996 to provide urgent unscheduled care within Greater Manchester and has been the provider of out-of-hours GP services in Trafford since 2004. Mastercall was presented with two national awards for clinical quality in 2008.
For further information about Trafford Primary Care Trust, visit www.trafford.nhs.uk. To find out more about Mastercall, visit www.mastercall.org.uk
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