UK hails success of "walk-in" centres:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The UK's Department of Health is hailing the success of its "walk-in" centre programme in increasing access to diagnostics and A&E treatment. A report published last week on the performance of 42 centres since April 2000 has revealed that 74% of the more than two million consultations were managed entirely at these. 26% of patients would have otherwise gone to their local hospital's A&E department. The centres were assessed according to five criteria: improved access to care, quality, appropriateness, impact on other NHS providers and efficiency.