CONCERNS over possible cuts to the opening hours at Trowbridge Hospital’s Minor Injuries Unit have been downplayed by South West Wiltshire MP Dr Andrew Murrison.

Last week it was learned that the MIU could have its opening hours cut from 24 hours a day, seven days a week to 7am-11pm by Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group.

But Dr Murrison said that, according to CCG figures, the number of people using the unit between 11pm and 7am is in fact very low.

“I am aware that there is a problem with attendance during out of hours times. Very few people going later at night or early in the morning,” he said.

“I am prepared to consider what the CCG has to say on this. If it is because they cannot afford to cover out of hours or do not have the number of staff to cover it, we should listen. We have to look at solutions.

“The CCG showed me the figures in Chippenham and Trowbridge and the amount of people arriving in these times are actually very small.

“I have to emphasise that Trowbridge Hospital’s Minor Injuries Unit is for minor injuries. People with serious medical issues or life threatening problems need to go to an acute centre.”

Dr Murrison also floated the idea of increasing income tax to help pay for the NHS, or the use of a hypothecated tax, where tax money is collected and used for a particular purpose, as a way round the NHS’s funding crisis.

“I think the problem is that the NHS does not have enough money despite this government putting in an extra £10bn, it is still not enough - we cannot go on like this.

“However I will raise the issue of community hospital beds in the house of commons which have been seriously downgraded over the years and need to be regrown to address the bed blocking issue."

The change would mean people face a journey to Bath’s Royal United Hospital or Swindon’s Great Western Hospital for emergencies late at night or early in the morning.

The Minor Injuries Unit in Chippenham is already closed between 1-7am and the one in Frome is shut between 10.30pm and 8am.

Trowbridge doctor Stuart Farrimond said: “Reducing the hours at the Minor Injuries Unit in Trowbridge is clearly a bitter blow to all those in the area.

“More people with injuries, bites and wound infections will be forced to attend the Accident and Emergency department at Bath’s Royal United Hospital – a journey time of over half an hour by car.

“The staff at Bath RUH are already extremely stretched – one in ten people who attend the RUH A&E are stuck there more than four hours – I fear that this change could stop people seeking medical attention when they need it.”

When the Wiltshire Times approached the CCG to provide the statistics they did not reply when the paper went to press.