Penrith’s Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) has been providing more services closer to home for up to 500 patients. 

Since November 2021, a change in opening hours meant that the staff were able to learn new skills to deliver ongoing treatments for a range of conditions as well as deal with the steady stream of people walking in with their minor injuries and illnesses.

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Diane Brunskill, a staff nurse at the UTC said: "Since last year every single member of staff in the UTC has gained the new skills of managing PICC lines and Hickman lines as well as delivering infusions."

Now the staff are trained, they have a lot of capacity to support more patients. Zoe Rigg, UTC Manager for this UTC and Keswick’s UTC, said: " It’s important that we make sure patients don’t travel further than they need to. Last week I had a patient who told me he was so grateful for the fact he could get his ongoing treatment here instead of having to go to Carlisle as it would have been a 60 mile round trip for him."