ACCRINGTON’S threatened walk-in GP centre will remain open for at least another year, it was announced yesterday.

The move marks another milestone in an ongoing campaign by patients and councillors to keep the popular centre at the town’s Victoria Hospital open in the long-term.

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The East Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which caused uproar when it initially ruled out keeping the Health Access Centre in its current form, now plans to leave it as it is until at least September 2016.

It had earlier bowed to pressure by keeping it open until October this year while it carried out a public consultation due to end this weekend.

A decision was later made to keep it open until next March, before a further update was given yesterday.

A spokesman said: “The contract to run the Health Access Centre at Accrington is currently commissioned by NHS East Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group and due to end on the 31 March 2016.

“Following a request from NHS England, the CCG has agreed to extend the contract for a further six months until the 30 September 2016.

“This will ensure that there is sufficient time to develop the future local model for primary care delivery, and which the CCG have been working on for the last 12 months.

“The CCG has been engaging more widely around primary care access, and is committed to continuing the process.

Council leader Miles Parkinson said: “It’s up to the health service to provide the ability for doctors to be able to see their patients if they want to.

“If they can’t, the walk-in centre must remain because clearly if you lose the walk-in centre and doctors surgeries can’t cope, people will then simply go to Royal Blackburn Hospital, which would cause even more queues.

“Unfortunately, too many people can’t see their doctor or have to wait for weeks.”

The CCG’s 18-month consultation with the public and stakeholders about the future of primary health care provision across East Lancashire was launched last March and was due to end this week.

The group’s chair, Dr Di van Ruitenbeek, said the decision to launch it was taken after staff ‘listened to the views of local people and Hyndburn Council’.

She said: “It will enable us to carefully review the needs of patients.”