A simulation-based study of a NHS Walk-in Centre

This paper describes a simulation-based project to help North Mersey Community National Health Service Trust to design and plan the operation of a NHS Walk-in Centre. The simulation model developed of this multi-service facility was used to facilitate managers and health professionals to recognize existing problems and potential future problems, and to investigate ideas for their ‘solution’. In the fast-moving NHS where initiatives to improve access, such as walk-in centres, are a recent development and where no two centres are the same, ideas for best practice borrowed from elsewhere can be quickly tested for suitability in the local situation.