Burnham-On-Sea’s MP has vowed to fight the possible closure of the town’s Minor Injuries Unit at Burnham Hospital.
Speaking to Burnham-On-Sea.com following a meeting with the Friends of Burnham Hospital on Friday (February 28th), MP James Heappey said he fully understands the concern of local people.
“It is clear that the MIU is widely supported in the community and actually it’s hugely necessary because Burnham is not just the 20,000 people that live here year round – it’s the doubling of the population over the summer,” he said.
“Last summer when there were the temporary closures I made it very clear to the CCG that I thought that was deeply inappropriate.”
“The idea that there should be a permanent threat to the MIU is something that I do not support and I’ll be working with the Friends to make the case that the MIU remains open because I think it’s an important facility for Burnham-On-Sea.”
Responding to the news that thousands of local people have signed a petition calling for the MIU to be safeguarded, he added: “The Clinical Commissioning Group have got a job to do. They will be looking at the laydown of community healthcare facilities elsewhere in the country and comparing that to Somerset.”
“It is not unreasonable that they are doing that, but I think that they have to make a judgement around Burnham that recognises that seasonal population, and the demographic of the population of Burnham as well.”
“There is a requirement for a facility like that. I think it also has to be taken in the context of the changes they’ve made at Weston Hospital and just because there is a new facility in Bridgwater it doesn’t mean automatically that the brand new facility in Bridgwater is any better or any more relevant to the facility we’ve already got in Burnham.”
“So I’ll be fighting this hard. I understand the sentiment. I’m not sure the clinical commissioning group are doing anything wrong by looking at this but it is absolutely right that we as a community make sure that our opinion is heard.”
The Friends of Burnham Hospital launched their petition last weekend, called ‘keep urgent and minor injury treatment in Burnham-On-Sea’, which is online here.
It comes after we reported that the NHS’s seven MIUs across Somerset, including one at Burnham-On-Sea War Memorial Hospital in Love Lane, could be closed down and replaced with a smaller number of ‘urgent treatment centres’ across Somerset.
While no decisions have yet been taken, the government is seeking to introduce urgent treatment centres across the UK which will be larger hubs run and staffed by GPs, with longer opening hours and a wider range of services.
