Portsmouth, VA  –   PORTSMOUTH, Va. (Nov. 5, 2021) – Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP) Branch Health Clinic (BHC) Norfolk recently established an Urgent Care Clinic (UCC), Nov. 2.

The UCC was created at BHC Norfolk to assist NMCP’s Emergency Department (ED) in decreasing the number of active duty coming to the medical center for after-hour, non-emergency care.

“With the new UCC, Sailors coming off of ships won’t need to come to the ED in Portsmouth after work to receive care,” said Cmdr. Shari Gentry, NMCP’s director of primary care and branch health clinics. “They can now receive care right in Norfolk and won’t have to go through the tunnel.”

The UCC is for non-life-threatening medical issues, such as sprains, flu symptoms, colds, back pain, skin rashes and other common illnesses, and it mirrors a civilian-type of after-hours clinics by using BHC Norfolk’s primary care, laboratory, radiology clinics and pharmacy departments.

Currently, Norfolk is the only NMCP BHC offering a UCC, but Sailors stationed in the areas outside of Norfolk may still be able to be seen at their area military treatment clinics.

“Recently, we extended Boone’s (BHC Adm. Joel T. Boone at Little Creek) routine working hours to 1900 (7 p.m.), so there wasn’t a need for an urgent care clinic,” Gentry said. “We also plan to extend Oceana’s (BHC Oceana) routine hours at some point.”

BHC Norfolk UCC is seeing only active-duty walk-in patients Monday to Friday, 3-7 p.m.

As the U.S. Navy's oldest, continuously-operating military hospital since 1830, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth proudly serves past and present military members and their families. The nationally-acclaimed, state-of-the-art medical center, along with the area's 10 branch health and TRICARE Prime Clinics, provide care for the Hampton Roads area. The medical center also supports premier research and teaching programs designed to prepare new doctors, nurses and hospital corpsman for future roles in healing and wellness.