TRAFFORD residents will soon have access to a ‘drop-in’ health centre that is open 365 days a year.

The facility will be launched on October 1 at Trafford General Hospital.

People will be able to see a GP between 8am and 8pm, seven days a week, including bank holidays.

When it opens the health centre will also be looking after registered patients from Flixton’s Crescent Medical Practice at Woodsend Clinic, while the service at Woodsend Clinic will become a branch surgery that will be open for two hours a day, Monday to Friday.

Both the new centre and Crescent Medical Practice will be managed on behalf of Trafford Primary Care Trust (TPCT) by Mastercall Healthcare, the organisation that looks after the borough’s ‘out-of-hours’ emergency service.

Gina Lawrence, executive director of commissioning at TPCT, said: “This new health centre will provide a really convenient service for people across Trafford, not only in terms of the extensive hours during which GPs will be accessible, but also because they will be able to turn up without an appointment.”

Registered patients at Crescent Medical Practice are currently in the process of being consulted about how they would like their new branch surgery and health centre to be run in the lead up to October.

Michaela Buck, managing director of Mastercall, added: “We are looking forward to working with the PCT to provide an enhanced and more flexible access to GP services for all Trafford residents.”

Mastercall Healthcare is a not-for-profit healthcare provider managed by local NHS professionals. The organisation was formed in 1996 to provide urgent unscheduled care within Greater Manchester and has been the provider of out-of-hours GP services in Trafford since 2004.

For further information got to trafford.nhs.uk or mastercall.org.uk