Manchester Piccadilly NHS Walk In Centre

The NHS Drop in centre at Piccadilly Station is completely and utterly useless. It is far too small for the volumes of people who need to use it, and it is awkwardly placed for the vast majority of the city.
I went into the drop-​in clinic one sunny afternoon with a friend who was suffering from a text-​book case of conjunctivitis. We were admitted to the centre, which was upstairs, and sweltering. We then sat in the waiting room for about 50 minutes, whilst everybody else was seen by the one doctor on duty.
I recognise that the NHS have trouble finding funding for all of their ventures, but to only have one doctor on duty in a drop in centre in the capital of the North West seemed bizarre to me. The venue itself was far too small for its purpose and was very cramped. There was not enough room anywhere in the waiting area for children to be walking around, or sat on the floor playing, which I think is one of the vital requirements for any health centre. If the children waiting get bored, then the chances are, your experience is about to get a lot louder, and even more uncomfortable.
On the plus side, there was a plasma tv on the wall which was showing ‘Murder, She Wrote’ with subtitles. Without this small distraction, I think I would have left. Thank God for Angela Lansbury.

You know how sometimes you get ill, and you call up your GP and ask if you can see a doctor, and the receptionist explains to you that there’s no appointments for three days, and you should have made an appointment, and you think to yourself ‘well, if I’d known four days ago that I was going to have explosive vomiting and whatnot, then I would have made an appointment’. Well, those times suck. Luckily, Manchester’s NHS people have a great number of walk-​in centres. My favourite of which is at Piccadilly, just on Station Approach, near Caffe Nero.
Though it looks pretty unremarkable from the outside, this walk-​in is pretty much brand new and shiny on the inside. There’ a complicated system whereby you talk to the reception man, who sends you upstairs til your name appears on a screen, at which point, it is quite likely you will have to go to a treatment room downstairs, but that’s a small glitch.
The waiting area is nice and bright, with lots of chairs, and a huge flatscreen TV, which is always showing ITV when I come here. So, if you like Midsomer Murders, it’s almost like… a treat?
The receptionist and the medical professionals here are all lovely, and although they’ve got people waiting to be seen, you never feel like you’re being rushed. They can prescribe you medication for non-​serious illnesses, but if it’s more than a course of penicillin they’re likely to tell you to go to yor GP.
A good walk-​in, in the centre of town. Convenient, and well run.