Press release – February 7 2018

2018/009

The Minor Injury Units at Ross-on-Wye and Leominster Community Hospitals are to reopen on Monday, February 12.

Wye Valley NHS Trust temporarily closed the units in December to allow the Trust to redeploy experienced staff in the Emergency Department at the County Hospital which was under extreme winter pressure.

“We’ve seen a decline in the number of patients with minor injuries attending the Emergency Department which has allowed us to reopen the MIUs,” said Jon Barnes, chief operating officer at the Trust.

“The safety and welfare of patients is the Trust’s priority. We have a duty to ensure we provide safe clinical care for our most vulnerable patients and the temporary closures allowed us to redeploy experienced emergency nurse practitioners to provide enhanced clinical support where it was most needed.”

The temporary closures are not affecting other activities at the community hospitals – all other services at Ross-on-Wye and Leominster Community Hospitals continue to operate as usual.

The Minor Injury Units will be open the same hours they were before the temporary closure, 8.30am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday, excluding Bank Holidays.

Ends

Note to editors:

Wye Valley NHS Trust is a provider health services across Herefordshire and beyond.

The Trust exists to improve the wellbeing, independence and health of the people we serve. We are the leading provider of health care in Herefordshire.

By working closely with our partners, we can make good our promise to deliver a quality of care we would want for ourselves, our families and our friends.

With an estimated annual turnover of around £180 million, we employ around 2,700 plus staff. We aim to build new relationships between our staff, patients, service users and their carers with the wider community.

For further information please contact the Trust communication team on 01432 372928 or 01432 355444 x5105.