A 24-HOUR Minor Injuries Unit (MIU) in Worcestershire which is currently open 24 hours a day could close overnight after it was revealed less than three people a week had been visiting between 10pm and 8am.

Tenbury Community Hospital runs one of only two 24-hour MIUs in the county but a recent report by Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, which runs the facility, showed an average of only 2.8 patients a week visited out of hours.

As a result the trust is proposing to reduce the opening times to between 9am and 9pm seven days a week.

The organisation has said the plans would impact 12 per cent of patients and, speaking at a meeting of the trust’s board on Wednesday, November 12, director of quality Sandra Brennan said the hospital’s League of Friends had expressed some concerns about the plans, but health experts in the area had been largely supportive of the idea.

“There was a really helpful representation by one of the local GPs who was really supporting of the rational of closing it overnight,” she said.

Another of the reasons behind the proposals is that NHS rules state at least one trained Emergency Nurse Practitioner (ENP) has to be on duty at an MIU at all times, but the trust has been unable to recruit enough to cover shifts at Tenbury.

As a result the organisation has been forced to employ temporary agency staff, who are more than twice as expensive as staff nurses.

Last month the hospital was awarded the trust’s Patient Choice Award at its annual staff achievement awards following extremely positive feedback from patients.

The hospital’s matron Jayne Brown said: “The reality is the demand at night is quite different to demand during the day.

“We have tried several times but are unable to recruit ENPs into post with the specialist skills needed to run the unit safely overnight.

“We are committed to maintaining the MIU and ensuring our most skilled staff are available to see people during the busiest times - which are during the day, seven days a week, every day of the year.”

A public consultation into the proposal has been launched at www.hacw.nhs.uk, with results to be presented to Worcestershire County Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee in the New Year.

The trust also runs MIUs at Evesham and Malvern’s community hospitals and Bromsgrove’s Princess of Wales Community Hospital while Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust runs another at Kidderminster Hospital – which is open 24 hours a day.

MIUs can treat a range of non-emergency including broken bones, cuts, grazes, wounds, sprains, strains and minor burns and waiting times are often significantly shorter than at A&E departments.