North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust has restated its commitment to the future of Penrith and Keswick Urgent Treatment Centres.
Since July 2025, there have been a number of days where the Keswick Urgent Treatment Centre has had to close due to staffing issues across both Keswick and Penrith. Where the trust are not able to safely staff both units, staff are brought together at Penrith which has longer opening hours, to make sure they can still offer an urgent healthcare service in the area.
The staffing gaps, arising from a combination of vacancies and long term absences in a small team are now improving following successful recruitment and trust expect to be able to provide a much more stable service by May 2026.
Dr Gill Findley, Executive Chief Nurse said, “We know how valuable the service is for the community and the tourist population in the heart of the Lake District, and the Trust is committed to maintaining the service we have at both hospitals. The Urgent Treatment Centre offers a fantastic service to our population. It performs consistently well achieving above 95% for seeing patients within the four-hour standard and we regularly receive compliments for the service.
“We are sorry for the inconvenience and confusion caused by the ongoing temporary closures and fully recognise the impact this has had on those who use the service. This decision is never taken lightly and is and is only to ensure that we can keep patients safe and continue to provide at least one Urgent Treatment facility in the area.
“Our colleagues have been working extremely hard to maintain provision wherever possible, and we are grateful for their continued commitment during what has been a challenging period. We appreciate the community’s patience and understanding as we work through these challenges.
“We are working really hard to stabilise the staffing position. We are actively recruiting to vacant posts and colleagues are due to join us in the coming months to strengthen the team.
“We will do everything we can to avoid further closures in the coming months, however it is likely there will be some disruption until new colleagues come into post.”
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