Needs to take note and hurry (5)
I believe the answer is:
haste
'hurry' is the definition.
('haste' can be a synonym of 'hurry')
'needs to take note' is the wordplay.
'needs' becomes 'has' ('have' can be a synonym of 'need').
'to take' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'note' becomes 'te' (**).
'has'+'te'='HASTE'
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for haste that I've seen before include "Urgent hurry" , "The more of it, the less speed sometimes" , "velocity" , "dispatch" , "Over-eager speed" .)