Walk-in centres - WICs - emergency and urgent care

NHS walk-in centres

NHS walk-in centres (WICs) offer convenient access to a range of treatment. WICs are managed by primary care trusts (PCTs), however from April 2013 this will be done by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). There are around seven million attendances at type 3 A&E services (i.e WiCs, UCCs and MIUs) in England, dealing with minor illnesses and injuries.

These include:

infections and rashes
blood pressure checks
fractures and lacerations
emergency contraception and advice
stomachaches
vomitting and diarrhoea
hay fever
insect and animal bites
stitches (sutures)
dressing care
minor cuts and bruises
minor burns and strains
Stop smoking support

For more information about any of the conditions listed above visit the Health A-Z section on this site.

NHS WICs are usually managed by a nurse and are available to everyone. Patients do not need an appointment. Most centres are open 365 days a year and outside office hours. Some newly opened centres may offer different opening hours during their first few months.

They have proved to be a successful complementary service to traditional GP and A&E services. Some NHS WiCs offer access to doctors as well as nurses. However, they are not designed for treating long-term conditions or immediately life-threatening problems.

Some WICs and minor injuries units may not treat young children. The decision lies with the WIC or minor injuries unit and is based on the capacity, resource or skill levels available. Please contact your local WIC or minor injuries unit in advance if you are not sure if you or your child can be treated there.

Comments

12 Comments about ‘Walk-in centres ’

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Comments are personal views. Any information they give has not been checked and may not be accurate.

Lauren1997 said on 03 April 2013

I am 14 years old and want to be a doctor. I haven't had much experience of the NHS, (luckily!) but to all you who are complaining about these walk in centres;
1. Be grateful they are trying. Would you like to have no and have no healthcare at all? Constructive criticism is best.
2. If you think the NHS is useless; watch Great Ormond Street Season 2 on YouTube and then come and tell me and all the hardworking dedicated staff working behind the NHS that they and the NHS is useless.
3. Wait 'till the day the NHS saves your or your loved ones life. Yeah they lose a few on the way, but think where we'd be without it.
Thanks, :)

spruce27 said on 01 March 2013

PS: I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. This is the NHS after all. Does anything work? No one in charge. Out of control. We pay for it but we get the run-around.

spruce27 said on 01 March 2013

There is a search facility for walk-in centres. It's at:
http://www.nhs.uk/Service-Search/Walk-in-centre/LocationSearch/663
The only trouble is it doesn't work!

BigBrownBear said on 27 February 2013

I was under the impression the clue in a name walk-in was you could just do that and see a GP but when I tried was told no appointments until the next day. No different to my own GP! The write up of this service says urgent cases will be seen same day but receptionist didnt ask what the problem was and didnt say where to go for care so left me to decide about going to A&E!! I thought GP's didnt want patients to do that because they get charged!! So that walk-in is a waste of time its become a normal GP service that works at weekends. Gone are the days of out of hours GP's, instead we have the new 111 service which took ages to answer and I was greeted with what sounded like a 16 yr old with a tick box script. For anyone who has ever had a blood clot or angina this was a red rag to a bull, do not pass go, straight to A&E!!! Totally unnecessary when you know you need a GP and cant wait till the next day but you dont need to waste A&E's time. So having convinced them of that I got a call back from a nurse who agreed a GP would call in another 30 mins. I then get another call from an appointment making centre (all no doubt on double bubble as its Sunday) telling me to go to my nearest Hospital in 3 hours! I cant help thinking that the old system of ringing OFO GP and getting a call back from a Doc who turned up 20 minutes later at your home was not only cheaper but more convenient and less bug spreading than what we have now.Not impressed with anything thats on offer for out of hours at the moment other than the lovely GP I ended up seeing in the end. Talk about hoops to jump through though, or perhaps thats the point, they want you to just give up. Judging by my experience those that are really sick could get missed or waste lots of time before they are seen and people not needing to be seen will not be screened out. If this is some CCG's idea of cost cutting, not sure we will have much money left for anything else!

George Formby said on 02 February 2013

As has been mentioned by others, this is the walk-in centres page, but it doesn't seem to be possible to find walk-in centres. :-(

tawny owl said on 18 January 2013

This site is a shambles:

* there's no search facility for walk-in centres on the WIC page, only for GP, pharmacy, and urgent care (x2) which lists two hospitals;

* the black invitation-to-find-out-more box on the right isn't a link at all;

* the WIC search facility on an other page said there's no WIC within 50 miles (the max. searchable distance) of me in Calne, Wilts; but my GP's website lists four.

I even had to change the browser string to Internet Explorer because the site doesn't work with Opera but there's no reason at all why it shouldn't. Shambolic.

wookey said on 23 December 2012

To identify the nearest walk in clinic a map showing their location would be most useful to identify the nearest in travel time; ie car, bus train etc. Also if the location of the patient is uncertain.

Wanstronian said on 20 December 2012

I don't think the list is up to date. This is infuriating as I really need to know where my nearest centre is!

pleaseupdate said on 06 September 2012

Put in Exeter post code and it gave Weymouth as the nearest walk-in centre! There are two in Exeter to my knowledge. This is important information, which needs to be accurate, please correct/update ASAP.

cudknot4 said on 21 April 2012

My walk in centre at Apley castle, Telford, is no longer operating as one as they have introduced an appointments system. I am registered there, and they struggle with volume. I don't blame them, just the governments past and present who have not expanded services enough to keep up with the influx of migrants etc. The NHS is chaotic if you want a hospital appointment then you have to wait even to go on the waiting list so that their figures meet government targets. This is not happening, it is all hidden now. I pray that I never fall seriously ill ever again!

DomZRoss said on 15 December 2011

Please can you update the Walk In locations

r1b1c7 said on 04 December 2011

about 18 monthsago I was stung by a fish called a weever. It left a bit of its spine in my foot so I thought a walk0-in centre would be the place to sort this. I looked up the nearest on the web and was told it was in North Mid. I went there to be told it had recently moved to Edmonton. Went to Edmonton where a nice doctor took out the spine. Job done. On this cite I now learn that the Edmonton walk-in centre, not very old, has now closed and the nearest wlak-in centre is now in North Finchley 3.3 miles and 2 bus rides from me - an hour away. Not only that but there are no walk-in centres in Enfield at all. This is just one more aspect of the NHS which is chaotic. Close a centre, move services to another one, close that and move the service miles away. All in 18 months. I know it will have been the PCT which wrought this particular chaos but will it be better when GPs are in charge. I think not. My GP surgery cannot manage itself properly let alone the rest of the rest of the NHS. In 5 years time Britain may not be as unsafe a place to be ill as the USA but it will be a lot worse than it has been in the recent past.

Last reviewed: 27/02/2013

Next review due: 27/02/2015

NHS walk-in centres

NHS walk-in centres (WICs) offer convenient access to a range of treatments. Find out what services NHS walk-in centres provide.

Emergency and urgent care services