STARTING next month, Yate’s Minor Injuries Unit (MIU) will be closing its doors to patients whenever the service gets too busy.

Management say the new closure system will help make sure the unit meets “the national standard of seeing people within four hours”.

But the decision has been criticised by local councillors, who believe that “turning people away” will only add pressure on other NHS services.

South Gloucestershire councillor Claire Young told the Gazette: “They are trying to dress up closing the service as a good thing, which is utterly ludicrous.

"The decision doesn’t make any sense, particularly as we know that the waiting room has been empty in the past when they’ve closed it.

“If you’ve got an injury that needs seeing, you’re just going to have to traipse over to A&E and therefore put pressure on that service.”

An average of 50 people are seen every weekday at the MIU, which is run by Sirona Care & Health and employs a four-strong nursing team.

The unit aims to meet the national standard of seeing people within four hours, but has had to close early a number of times recently due to high demand – with up to 80 patients requiring treatment on some days.

National guidance states that each MIU attendee requires 20 minutes attention on average, and currently around five or six people are seen each hour by the Sirona team.

Carrie Wedgwood, head of adult and specialist services for Sirona, toldthe Gazette: “From August 1, we will close during the day for short periods when the numbers of people waiting starts to build and will re-open once those people have been seen.

“This will mean people will not be waiting for hours and hours.

“We recently piloted the system and closed when the unit had nearly a four-hour wait. We were able to catch up within two hours and re-open.”

Although the closure system is set to be implemented from August 1, it will not be the first time that the unit has been shut during the day.

In January, a resident took a photo of a sign outside Yate MIU that said the facility had been temporarily closed “due to high patient numbers”, and another picture of the waiting room, which was completely empty.

Cllr Chris Willmore told the Gazette people rarely have to wait four hours to be seen. 

“They’re saying that they want to meet their target of seeing people within four hours, but I don’t know anyone who has had to wait that long," she said.

"They’ve already been closing the service over the past year, but now they’re doing it officially.

"It’s an absolutely outrageous move. People go to the injury unit because they have a problem – that problem isn’t going to disappear.”