PATIENTS are being reminded that the new opening hours of Trowbridge’s Minor Injuries Unit come into force on Tuesday (Nov 1).

It was revealed back at the start of September that the Clinical Commissioning Group intended to cut the level of access at the MIU in the town by 56 hours a week due to a lack of overnight patients and difficulty in maintaining appropriate staffing levels.

From Tuesday, the current 24-hour service will be reduced to 7am-11pm which will be in line with the adjusted times at Chippenham MIU.

But in a letter by campaigner Andy Milroy and Cllr Bob Brice, leader of Trowbridge Town Council, the pair said the reduction is setting “a very dangerous precedent”.

They added: “The Trowbridge MIU is the only all night minor injury facility providing a service throughout the night in the whole of west and north Wiltshire.

“Just a year or so ago it was stated that the quality of care across the country is being compromised because A&E units cannot cope with the numbers of patients who go to hospitals, often with minor ailments. This is exactly what MIUs are supposed to prevent – to stop A&E units being over-loaded. Passing the buck is no solution.

“Emergency services like minor injury and accident and emergency units are vital and are of great public concern. To axe such a crucial service operating when people are at their most vulnerable – at night – is indefensible and to do so without any public consultation is extremely ill-considered and arbitrary."

Wiltshire Health & Care – an NHS partnership formed by the RUH, GWH and Salisbury Trusts – are responsible for the delivery of adult community health services in MIUs and said the move was in response to there only being an average of 2.3 visits overnight.

Managing director Douglas Blair said at the time of the announcement: “Continuity of the existing arrangements at Trowbridge MIU is not sustainable if we are to provide an effective service that meets the current and future needs of local communities. That means being able to properly staff our units during the day time when people most require the services they provide.”

For more information, visit www.wiltshirehealthandcare.nhs.uk.