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Community Hospitals

Asked by James McMurdockIndependentDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled Answered 1 June 2026UIN 1640

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has for community hospitals to deliver urgent and primary care services.

Answered by Karin Smyth

There are no plans to require all community hospitals to provide urgent or primary care services.

Urgent services are already provided in the community by urgent community response (UCR) teams. UCR teams provide urgent care to adults in their homes helping to avoid hospital admissions and enable people to live independently for longer.

This reflects the wider range of urgent care services delivered in community settings, not limited to any particular type of facility.

These services operate alongside other urgent care provision, including urgent treatment centres, NHS 111 and ambulance services, to ensure patients are directed to the most appropriate care setting.

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