A THREATENED Southampton walk-in centre is safe from the axe, the Daily Echo can exclusively reveal.
After four months of uncertainty and campaigning, health bosses have revealed that the closure of Bitterne Walk-In Centre is no longer an option.
The service will not follow in the footsteps of Shirley Walk-In Centre, which closed last year. However it’s opening hours will be slashed.
Campaigners battling to save the centre have spoken of their relief that closure has been taken off the table but have vowed to continue their fight to stop any cuts to the “vital” service.
As the formal public consultation into the future of the service is launched on Monday, there are now just two proposals for the future of the centre.
NHS Southampton City has scrapped three other options, including possible closure, following the outpouring of support from hundreds of residents in support of the centre.
The first remaining proposal is for the walk-in centre to operate on weekends and bank holidays only, between 8.30am and 10pm.
The second option is to have the centre open on weekday evenings, from 6.30pm to 10pm, and on weekends and bank holidays. The shakeup is part of the trust’s review into unscheduled care in the city, to help save money.
Bob Deans, chief executive of NHS Southampton City, said: “Our priority is to ensure that those who become unwell unexpectedly are assessed and treated at the right time and in the right place, in a way that offers the best value for money given the financial challenges the NHS is facing.”
Campaigner Tim Cutters said he was pleased closure had been scrapped but said any cut was unacceptable and their protests would continue outside the centre tomorrow as planned.
He said: “I have no doubt that the decision to throw out the option of closure is thanks to the pressure put on health bosses by our campaign and the hundreds who joined it and many will be relieved.
“I still fear that in the long-term the centre will be under threat and although they are not closing it now, this is the start of its slow death.”
The consultation will run for 13- weeks, until February 11, 2011.
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