‘Mitigation needed’ if Eastbourne walk-in centre closes

Councillors have shared their views on proposals to close the walk-in health centre at Eastbourne railway station.
Eastbourne Station Health Centre (Photo by Jon Rigby) SUS-180830-103238008Eastbourne Station Health Centre (Photo by Jon Rigby) SUS-180830-103238008
Eastbourne Station Health Centre (Photo by Jon Rigby) SUS-180830-103238008

At a meeting of the East Sussex Health Overview Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) on Thursday (September 10), councillors endorsed a review board’s report on proposals to close the Eastbourne Station Health Centre.

While it did not lay out a view on whether the proposals should go ahead, the report made a series of recommendations intended to mitigate the potential impacts should the health centre be closed.

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These included a communications campaign to highlight the new services available at NHS 111, including the ability to book same day appointments.

It also recommended that the CCG look into commissioning a drop-in service for rough sleepers and other homeless people in the town centre before a decision is made to close the centre. 

While the report focused on mitigation, concerns were raised around the wider closure proposals by Eastbourne councillor Alan Shuttleworth (Lib Dem). 

Cllr Shuttleworth raised particular concerns about the impact of the proposals on unregistered and vulnerable people living in the town.

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He also criticised the CCG for moving ahead with the consultation and service changes during the coronavirus pandemic.

Cllr Shuttleworth said: “Clearly there have been a number of people in the homeless and sofa surfing category, people in temporary accommodation, who have really benefited from the relationships they’ve established with the station walk-in centre.

“We’ve all heard stories about people in Eastbourne who have found it difficult to access a GP service, but have gone to the walk-in centre to get a service they desperately need, because they haven’t been able to get it from their own GP.

“In a way [the centre] is providing a safety net for all sorts of different categories of people, including visitors to the town [and] the language schools.

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“My questions, my comments are around whether it is in the best interest of the health service in Eastbourne, of the residents of Eastbourne, to close this facility at this time.

“In my view this is the wrong time to be considering it. The time to be looking at the service provision would be when we get through this pandemic and are looking at the service provision across the board.”

The proposals to close the walk-in centre come as part of a wider plan by the East Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to develop a new integrated urgent care system for the local area.

As part of these plans, the CCG is set to create two Urgent Treatment Centres (UTCs) at both Eastbourne DGH and Conquest Hospital in Hastings. 

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The CCG considered that these UTCs would “duplicate” the services provided by the walk-in centres, leading to the proposal to close them. 

Proposals to close the Hastings walk-in centre – at Station Plaza – have since been altered, however, with it now set to be replaced with a “nurse-led integrated primary care hub” instead. This would retain a walk-in element. 

The Eastbourne proposals were not altered, however.

The consultation on the Eastbourne proposals closed on Monday (September 14), with a final decision on the proposals due to be in December.

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