THE Minor Injuries Units at Ross-on-Wye and Leominster community hospitals will be closed for a month.

Wye Valley Trust will close the two units during the month of December to redeploy emergency nurses in A&E at Hereford County Hospital.

A spokesman for the trust said during the last week emergency departments across the region have experienced increasing pressures, including A&E in Hereford.

Lucy Flanagan, director of nursing, said: “The safety and welfare of our patients is our priority.

"This has been a difficult decision to make, but we have a duty to ensure we provide safe clinical care for our most vulnerable patients.”

The temporary closure will begin today.

The trust said there are a number of alternatives people can use instead of their local MIU which include:

  • seeking advice from their community pharmacy and for urgent medical help that is not life threatening
  • NHS 111 phoneline – this is also the easiest way to access the GP out-of-hours service.

Jon Barnes, chief operating officer at the trust, said: "We would like to apologise for any inconvenience this temporary closure may cause.

“We would also like to reassure the public that this decision was not taken lightly.”

Posters will be displayed at the community hospitals to direct the public to the other NHS facilities in Herefordshire as well as the Emergency Department at Hereford County Hospital where appropriate.

The decision to temporarily close the MIUs will not affect other activities at the community hospitals – all other services at Ross and Leominster Community Hospitals will continue to operate as usual.

Both units were open from 8.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday only.

Minor Injuries Units offer help with a range of injuries and ailments including simple breaks, minor head injuries, burns and even emergency contraception.

There are also MIUs at Ledbury and Kington.