A MEDICAL base has been launched in Chelmsford city centre to make your nights out a little safer.

The Purple Place will be stationed in the High Street on Friday and Saturday nights and will be manned by paramedics and a first aider to help people who have injured themselves.

A drug and alcohol practitioner, from charity Open Road, will also be on hand to help.

The Purple Place will provide a rapid assessment and care service and aims to ensure that users only attend Accident and Emergency Service when there is an absolute need.

It is hoped this will help alleviate demand on emergency services from inappropriate self-referrals or for conditions where alternative care would be more effective.

The project, which was officially launched on Friday by Chelmsford City Council councillor Ian Grundy, the cabinet member for Safer Communities, has been operational for six weeks and has so far treated 53 people for a range of injuries and alcohol related conditions.

All licensed premises selling alcohol after 1am will pay the Late Night Levy, which was introduced in 2014 to fund projects such as the Purple Place to prevent and tackle alcohol related disorder.

Councillor Ian Grundy said: “Not only will businesses paying the levy benefit from the service once it is launched, it is expected to have an extremely positive impact on A&E waiting times and emergency services.”

Essex County councillor Anne Brown added: “The Purple Place will strengthen our night-time economy and ensure that if any issues arise at night it will be dealt with in an efficient and timely way, providing immediate care for our residents and visitors, supporting local businesses and relieving pressure fro m our emergency services.”