‘Staffing challenges’ are being blamed for the unplanned closure of Burnham-On-Sea’s Minor Injuries Unit this weekend.
The unit at Burnham War memorial Hospital in Love lane was closed on Friday and is due to be closed today (Saturday July 20th) and on Monday July 22nd.
Lucy Nicholls, Patient and Public Involvement Manager at Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “Due to ongoing challenges with staffing of Somerset’s Minor Injuries Units (MIUs) in recent weeks, there has been a number of unplanned closures of some MIUs.”
“The position is again very difficult this weekend and there are not enough qualified staff to provide services across all of Somerset’s Minor Injuries Units.”
“As a consequence, our opening hours will be reduced over the weekend at Burnham-On-Sea Minor Injuries Unit, Minehead Minor Injuries Unit and Shepton Mallet Minor Injuries Unit.”
Burnham-On-Sea Minor Injuries Unit is closed today (Saturday 20th July), will be open on Sunday 21st July as usual (10.00am-6pm). It will be closed on Monday 22nd July. It will re-open on Tuesday 23rd July as usual (10am–6pm seven days a week; last patient admitted at 5:30pm).
The spokeswoman added: “It is our intention that our four other MIU sites will all be open as normal, subject to any unexpected staffing issues that arise over the weekend period. We will escalate any unanticipated changes in the usual way as soon as we become aware of them.”
“NHS111 remains the consistent and always accessible specialist advice line all non-emergency health care and should be the first point of contact for any patients who need advice. The NHS111 advice line, ambulance services and other partners have been informed so that patients can be directed to the relevant fully operational clinical services.”
“We are working extremely hard, together with the CCG and other partners, to resolve the staffing problems and looking at a range of initiatives and alternative solutions.”
“We will keep local communities regularly advised over the coming days and weeks of the situation and our plans to address the problems but we recognise that this will not be resolved immediately.”
