THE COVID-19 Community Assessment Centre (CAC) in Renton is to remain open, while two others across Greater Glasgow and Clyde have closed their doors.

The closures follow a steady decline in the number of Covid-19 cases and a corresponding fall in attendances at the centres.

Eastwood and Kirkintilloch will shut, leaving five remaining open – Clydebank, Renton, Barr Street in Glasgow, Greenock, and Linwood.

The CACs were mobilised at the beginning of the pandemic to provide a streamlined pathway for patients who had Covid-19 symptoms to ensure they received the most appropriate care as quickly as possible.

The seven specialist centres played a central role in effectively cohorting patients and protecting other primary and acute care services from being overwhelmed as well as the safety of patients and staff.

To date more than 5,500 patients have been through the centres.

Dr Jim O’Neil, lead clinician at Barr Street Community Assessment Centre, said: “It’s great news to be able to wind down two of our CACs as it means community transmission is reducing across Greater Glasgow and Clyde in line with the rest of Scotland.

“Staff who had been redeployed to the CACs can move back into other roles as we adapt into a recovery phase to allow us to scale back up services which have been impacted by the pandemic.

“The CACs were designed to serve a short-life span and have been very effective in helping treat people with Covid-19 symptoms. However, numbers have been steadily declining and in line with planning, services have been reduced to meet falling demand.

“We have retained a full service across other sites, and we will continue to review the situation on a daily basis to inform and allow us to scale back up, if required.

“We’d like to thank all the staff involved in helping mobilise and run the CACs so effectively and in such a short space of time.”