WORK is progressing on an ambitious project increasing the amount of services that can be offered at Minor Injury Units (MIUs) throughout Worcestershire.

As part of the Worcestershire Urgent Care Strategy – an extensive revamp of healthcare services across the county – a formal link has been created between Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the two A&E departments at Worcestershire Royal Hospital and Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital, and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, which runs the county’s MIUs.

It is hoped the project will mean the MIUs in towns such as Malvern, Evesham and Kidderminster will be able to deal with more serious cases, easing the strain on the county’s over-stretched A&E departments.

Urgent care clinical lead for South Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group Dr Nikki Burger said healthcare bodies across the county were working closely to implement the plans.

“The strategy identifies the need to increase the scope of conditions that can be managed consistently at MIUs and we’re working with providers to increase the number of people whose care can be completed at MIU avoiding the need for attendance at A&E,” she said.

“As a result of this work we expect to see pressures on emergency departments reduced through fewer transfers from MIU to A&E.

“There are still many people attending A&E from areas where their local MIU could deal with their care and it’s important that we improve awareness of conditions that can be treated in MIU.”

Although the MIUs in Kidderminster and Tenbury – which are open 24-hours a day – as well as Malvern, Evesham and Bromsgrove can deal with a number of non-emergency cases and waiting times are generally much shorter than at A&E, they are also severely under-used, treating an average of just 15 patients a day.

For more information on MIUs in the county visit www.isaandeforme.com.

Anyone unsure whether they need to visit A&E or an MIU can call NHS 111. In an emergency always dial 999.