Totnes Minor Injuries Unit to re-open

8th July 2022 The Totnes Pulse

Following several years of closure due the pandemic and pressures on availabiliy of NHS Staff, Totnes Minor Injuies Unit will be re-opening on Monday the 11th July.

In the intervening time, small accidents & problems by minor but still potentially life-threatening injuries needed to be treated in Torquay or Newton Abbot as the nearest locations for help.

David Matthews has been rallying local people to vigils and lobbying to get this very important resource re-opened and after many staged protests outside the unit, has happily proved successful.

Mr Matthews started campaigning when he became aware of the actual situation…“I sustained a deep cut to a finger. I was obliged then to take a taxi, at cost of £21 each way.. to the other side of Newton Abbott to obtain treatment -which was prompt and effective, – at a similar unit.” This spurred him into action to draw attention to the closure and to push for re-opening”

Totnes MP Anthony Mangnall wrote personally to Mr Matthews to say “I have great pleasure in sharing with you the news that the MIU based at Totnes Community Hospital will reopen on Monday, 11 July.

I have just received the following update from Liz Davenport, Chief Executive of the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust:

You will probably be aware that in March 2020 we had to make the difficult decision to temporarily close the Minor Injury Units (MIU) in Totnes due to staffing levels which were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the temporary closures we have tried very hard to recruit staff with the right skills and experience as well as looking at different models of care to see what might work. The temporary closures have gone on for longer than any of us would have wanted and we are sorry about that.

I am pleased to say that we have now recruited enough staff to be able to reopen the MIU based at Totnes Community Hospital. It will be open 5 days a week Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm and it is planned that this will increase to 7 days a week from August.

There will be a limited X-ray service at Totnes MIU therefore people requiring X-rays may still need to travel to the Urgent Treatment Centre at Newton Abbot. We would encourage anyone who thinks they need an X-ray to ring 111 who will be able to book them in for an appointment.

I hope you are as pleased as I am, to read this update.”

Mr Matthews told the Pulse, “Many thanks to all the friends and colleagues who attended the demonstrations and supported in other ways. A community effort which, through persistence, achieved the desired result. All of which prompts the sentiment:- Let us not accept the deliberate degradation of our society, in the cause of financial profit, with the accompanying disproportionate burden laid upon those least able to bear it.”