MEDICAL officials in South Gloucestershire have given reassurances over early closures of Yate minor injuries unit.

Pictures surfaced on social media in December of a sign outside the minor injuries unit (MIU) informing residents that the facility had closed early having reached capacity, offering suggestions for alternative routes to treatment, along with a photo of an empty waiting room at 4pm on a weekday.

But during a presentation by representatives of South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Sirona Care to South Gloucestershire Council’s health scrutiny committee last Wednesday, it was highlighted that the problem of early closing was being tackled, having fallen from 20 hours per month, to only 10 hours.

The Yate MIU is open from 8.30am to 7.30pm Monday to Friday, and 10am to 1.30pm on weekends, seeing between 1,300 and 1,700 people a month.

During the meeting, councillors heard that the nurse in charge might consider not registering new patients on any day if the level or type of attendance was above the level that can be seen.

When this happens, people attending the unit are advised of the options available to contact other services.

A spokesman for South Gloucestershire CCG said: “Staff always work to closing time, and often beyond, to ensure that patients who have already registered are treated. No-one who has been registered is turned away.

“On occasions, early closure may not be due to the significant number of people attending, but to the severity of the needs of individuals being treated."

Despite reassurances, some councillors felt that the early closures could have a negative impact on the MIU, which is attempting to give residents an alternative place to go for treatment, taking the pressure off already strained hospitals and GP practices.

Cllr Sue Hope said that it would “not go down well with people we are trying to get the message across to that it is a facility to be used.”

She added: “If people go there for a case they see as an emergency, only to find it closed, some might not be aware of where they should be going from the directions that are given, get in their car and head straight to Southmead, which destroys the purpose of having an MIU in the first place.”

The committee’s chairman, Cllr Toby Savage, said however that he was encouraged to hear from the local NHS that the problem of early closing of the Yate MIU is being tackled, adding that questions had been asked of the local NHS to see what more they can do to eliminate the problem entirely.

He also referred to a separate GP-based Minor Injuries Service (MIS) pilot that is also trying to help relieve pressures on A&E services by providing minor injuries services in GP practices. It launched in April last year and is being run for a pilot period after which it will be reviewed. It complements existing minor injuries services at Yate Health Centre and Southmead Hospital.

“With regard to the MIS which is being piloted throughout South Gloucestershire, it appears to have had an encouraging start,” he said, highlighting 99 per cent of feedback showed patients agreeing or strongly agreeing that they were happy with the treatment they had received.

“Importantly, 57 per cent of responding patients would have attended Accident and Emergency or an MIU if the MIS had not been available.

“Communicating to patients who would otherwise present themselves at A&E what the convenient local alternatives are is important if we are to reduce pressure on this part of the NHS.”