Hospital cutbacks blow (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Hospital cutbacks blow

16829WEST Wiltshire's health crisis plunged to new depths this week as another community hospital announced cutbacks.

Just three weeks after bed cuts were confirmed at Melksham Community Hospital, the minor injuries unit at Warminster Community Hospital has closed during the week.

From Wednesday the unit, where people can get treatment for cuts, burns and injuries for minor accidents, is only open 9am-5pm on weekends and Bank Holidays. The cuts have been blamed on sickness and staff shortages. Patients needing treatment will now have to travel to Westbury, Trowbridge or Melksham.

Richard Vine, chairman of the Friends of Warminster Hospital, said: "We are obviously very disappointed but this has happened before and I hope it can be resolved quickly.

"It is a very useful service to the people of Warminster. Warminster Hospital covers such a large area and the people living in Kingston Deverill, for example, have a long way to travel to get to Trowbridge or Westbury."

West Wilts MP Dr Andrew Murrison said he feared the closure of smaller units would put a strain on larger hospitals.

He said: "It's clear that when our local hospitals sneeze, the big acute units catch a cold. Pressures on the Royal United Hospital and Salisbury District Hospital increase substantially when minor injury units and hospital beds are closed, temporarily or otherwise.

"More importantly, patients and carers suffer from a stop-start service as do health care professionals, who will be deeply demoralised by this latest development."

The minor injury unit has had a turbulent history. Last April it had to close for seven months due to a shortage of GPs, while over Christmas a shortage of nurses forced hours to be cut.

The opening of the new outpatients ward last month meant hospital supporters hoped the tide had turned.

Warminster mayor Martin Baker said: "I was very saddened to hear the news considering we thought the problem had been resolved.

"I think for people to travel all the way to Trowbridge, Westbury or Melksham is asking a bit much. We must stress the unit is not closing it is just reducing its hours and I hope this can be solved as quickly as possible."

Elaine Leeder, manager of the minor injuries unit, said her team needed a minimum of seven members to run safely. "Due to a combination of vacancies and staff sickness we cannot continue to open during the week," she said. "We are unable to draw any further on specialist staff support from neighbouring units. In the short term this service cannot continue, from both the point of view of patients' safety and staff welfare.

"The PCT acknowledges the difficulty and is now looking at a longer term solution to ensure continuity of service at the unit."