Urgent care center

Some of the benefits cited include shorter wait times, no need to make an appointment, and a large staff which can handle mutltiple tasks relatively quickly.

Different words—walk-in centres, minor injury units and urgent care centres—have been used for similar facilities, but without the public understanding what exactly was on offer.

[7] Walk-ins in North Ormesby and Eston were closed in 2017 and replaced by the South Tees Access Response service, run by ELM Alliance Ltd, an alliance of local general practitioners (GPs), which offered late night and weekend appointments at four GP surgeries.

[8] NHS England decided in 2019 that all areas of England should be served by a network of urgent treatment centres which must be GP-led, open at least 12 hours a day, every day, offer appointments that can be booked through NHS 111 or through a GP referral, and be equipped with basic diagnostic equipment.

Many centers were started by emergency medicine physicians, responding to a public need for convenient access to unscheduled medical care.

[15] Kaissi et al., considered local multi-hospital systems in Florida, Maryland, Nevada, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

Authors noted unexplained state-by-state variation in hospital system partnership with UCC and retail clinic models.

[16] Corwin, et al., considered Medicare beneficiaries presenting to an UCC emergency department (ED) or physicians office with upper respiratory or urinary tract infections, bronchitis, sprains or contusions, and back or arthritic pain, in 2012.

[18] The Urgent Care Association (UCA) is an organization founded in 2004 to provide resources and training for the industry.

[21] Urgent care centers are not emergency departments and as such do not offer surgical services, particularly invasive surgical procedures (more than cutaneous or subcutaneous procedures—those involving body organs and organ parts, and/or deep penetration of deep fascia, tendons, ligaments, bursae, joints, muscles, or bones), any procedures requiring the use of regional or general anesthesia (more than topical local anesthesia), those procedures requiring a full operating room or suite, having lengthy recovery times, or requiring more than the level of imaging or specialists available at the center.

[22] The Royal New Zealand College of Urgent Care (RNZCUC), was founded in 1995 originally as the Accident and Medical Practitioners Association (AMPA), and presently provides certification for urgent care physicians in New Zealand.