Darwen weekend injuries unit shuts after just three months (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Darwen weekend injuries unit shuts after just three months

7:00am Monday 6th April 2009 in

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PATIENTS have hit out after a weekend injuries clinic was shut down after just three months.

And Councillor Roy Davies said the pilot minor injuries unit, which opened at Darwen Health Centre in December, had not been publicised enough during its three-month trial opening.

The service, for those with small injuries but not needing hospital treatment, was set up to help take pressure off the overcrowded urgent care centre at the Royal Blackburn Hospital.

It opened between 12.30pm and 5.30pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

But bosses at NHS Blackburn with Darwen said so few patients had used the unit that it was deemed not worth maintaining.

Coun Davies said: “Giving leaflets to people is not enough.

“We need to keep telling people these things are there or they won’t use them.

“The fact is that we need things like this running 24 hours a day, and have people going there for these things rather than queuing up at the hospital.

“I would like to see the unit remain in place, and the people of Darwen told that it is available.”

A patient who wrote to the Lancashire Telegraph in protest at the closure added: “It is short-sighted of the primary care trust.

“With the evenings becoming lighter and children playing out, the A and E, which is already running to capacity, will be overwhelmed.

“At the health centre, they would have free car parking and not have to wait four hours.”

A spokesman for the PCT said: “Over the three months, the volume of patients that have attended the service was very low and as such has not been consistent with maintaining the service.

“Currently NHS Blackburn with Darwen is looking at urgent care services across the health economy and further consideration will be made in relation to all aspects of urgent care provision as part of this review.”