Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said:
Patients must be able to get good quality out of hours NHS services, without having to go to an A&E. But walk-in centres alone are not the solution.
GPs have voiced concerns about a lack of demand for these services in parts of the country and have also pointed out – as highlighted in Monitor’s report – that in some areas the centres duplicated existing GP services, meaning the NHS was paying twice.
We know the system needs to change. That’s why we’ve agreed a £3.8 billion integration fund to help join up health and care services and asked Sir Bruce Keogh to carry out a review into urgent and emergency and care. Sir Bruce will report later this week.