THE LOCAL health watchdog has praised a medical facility at Leigh Infirmary following a stinging report by consumer group WHICH.

Members of the Wigan and Leigh Community Health Council have published their own report after a visit to the flagship NHS Walk-in Centre.

The CHC called the pioneering facilities "well run" and praised the "dedicated and professional" team of nurses. However an article in the WHICH magazine by the Consumer Association labelled services at Leigh walk-in centre "an extraordinary waste of NHS staff and resources".

Experts described advice dished out at Leigh as "pointless", "shockingly superficial" and "unacceptable".

The damning statements came after three undercover researchers posed as patients with different medical problems and went to eight of the 38 walk-in centres across the country. The walk-in facility at Leigh Infirmary, where trained nurses are there to deal with minor ailments to ease pressure on local GPs'3 surgeries, received the worst criticism. A panel of experts -- three doctors and a professor of nursing -- set up the scenarios.

The first "patient" was a 55-year-old man suffering from the heart condition angina. He should have been urgently referred back to his GP as his angina attacks were increasing and he was at risk of another heart attack. But at Leigh walk-in centre, he was sent away by staff at the reception and did not even get a consultation according to the report. Leigh walk-in centre also apparently failed to spot a serious side effect in an anti-depressant drug being taken by "patient two" which was making him cough and could have led to an asthma attack. Staff had failed to ask about the medication the patient was taking.

And nurses also failed to spot that a third "patient", who complained of headaches and seeing flashes before her eyes, was suffering from epilepsy as well as headaches.

The centre, along with all all the others visited, neglected to send out letters to GPs advising of the visits.

Leigh staff also sent one of the patients to accident and emergency department for a repeat prescription which the Consumer Association slammed as an inappropriate use of A&E. The report concluded: "The quality of care varied from one centre to another. It was partly dependent on whether the gatekeeper staff on reception screened the patient properly and directed them to a level of care appropriate for their condition."

But the Wigan and Leigh Community Health Council (CHC), praised the centre following their own research. The CHC report, from a visit in October, said: "The centre is well run and has a dedicated professional team of nurses. The walk-in centre is a welcome addition to the health service providing a range of services, treatments and consultations with experienced NHS nurses without a lengthy wait or having to make an appointment."

It noted that patients travelled from Bolton and Wigan to Leigh to be treated because it only took an average of 30 minutes to be seen. And chairman of the CHC Helen Hand criticised the Which report: "It's a pretty damming report on just three patients. The CHC is conducting a survey of over 100 patients this week at the walk-in centre and not just two or three individuals."

A spokesman from the Wigan and Bolton Health Authority said the walk-in facility had been converting from a minor injuries unit to a walk-in centre at the time the researchers visited and patient numbers had doubled. He added: "We have substantial reservations about the Consumer Association research, which does not allow their report to be checked against our own records. Nonetheless, since the report was carried out in July last year -- just one month after the Leigh centre opened on June 1 -- we have continued to introduce a common system of computer-supported triage -- the medical assessment on arrival -- to ensure a consistent response to all patients." The numbers attending at Leigh have risen by nearly 100 per cent from a daily average of 45 as a minor injuries unit to 85 as a walk-in centre. The hospital NHS trust said that there would be a nurse practitioner training unit at Leigh Infirmary in future following the WHICH report. Leigh was one of the first hospitals to pioneer the walk-in centres which only began last year.