An East Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) recently met and decided to shut down a minor injuries unit (MIU) and downgrade two other units in the in the region. The MIU that is to be shut down is located at Hornsea while the operating hours of the MIUs at Driffield and Withernsea have had their operating hours reduced. They are now to be open between 8 am and 8 pm.
The decision, which was made with intention of eventually improving the quality of health services in the area, was made by the NHS East Riding of Yorkshire CCG. A local MP has, however, asked for the decision to be referred to the Secretary of State for Health.
The Conservative MP for Beverly and Holderness, Graham Stuart, tweeted that the decision was not what the people of Beverly and Holderness wanted. He added that together with the Conservative MP for East Yorkshire, Sir Greg Knight, they had written to the East Riding of Yorkshire Council to ask them to defer the plans to shut down and degrade the MIUs to the health secretary.
Patients who don’t need to go to A&Es usually go to minor injury units. The CCG is, however, planning to review these services and these changes are the part of the greater plan. NHS East Riding of Yorkshire CCG member, Jane Hawkard stated that before making the decision it had taken time to listen to what people had to say as they consulted the public on the issue and they had taken what the public had to say very seriously.
According to the CCG, all three minor injury units attended to a total of approximately 13,500 patients every year. In the CCG’s opinion, these numbers were quite low.
Meanwhile, plans were set in place to create three new urgent care centres. The three new centres will be located at the East Riding Community Hospital which is located in Beverly, Goole District Hospital and at Bridlington Hospital. The CCG stated that the urgent care centres will be better since they will offer a much wider range of services compared to the minor injury units. The centres will also be open for 16 hours every day. The CCG also added that there are no plans as yet to shut down the Hornsea Cottage Hospital. The long-term future of the downgraded MIUs is also not yet known.