PATIENTS with minor injuries and illnesses are continuing to attend Derriford Hospital’s busy Emergency Department (ED), despite the opening of a new £52-million Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) designed to handle such cases.

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust said dozens of patients arriving at the ED in recent months could have been safely treated at the UTC, located in the hospital’s new three-storey Dartmoor Building.

The walk-in centre is open seven days a week, from 8am to 8pm, and aims to reduce pressure on the region’s main trauma centre by allowing emergency specialists to focus on patients who are seriously unwell.

Patients who attend the ED with minor conditions will now be redirected to the UTC. Those arriving outside its opening hours may be asked to return the next day or attend the Cumberland Centre or a local minor injuries unit.

Consultant in emergency medicine Ian McCarthy said: “We are seeing more patients than ever across our urgent and emergency care services. We want people to be seen in the right place at the right time. Our emergency department must remain available for life-or limb-threatening emergencies.”

Since the UTC opened in early September, between 40 and 50 patients who came to the ED could have been safely treated there. The centre can treat sprains, strains, minor fractures, head injuries, burns, cuts, bites, stings, and other non-life-threatening conditions.

Dr Anne Hicks, another consultant in emergency medicine, said the UTC had seen an average of 100 patients a day, with 99 per cent treated within four hours.

“The UTC feels like a calm and spacious environment to work and to be treated,” she said.

Live waiting times for Derriford’s ED and UTC, as well as other local units, are available on the Trust’s website at plymouthhospitals.nhs.uk/urgent-waiting-times.