It's time for the Minor Injuries Unit at Cossham Hospital

In 2014 a petition was raised by the late Reg Bennett and the Reformed Save Cossham Hospital Group calling for the promised minor injury unit (MIU) at Cossham Hospital in Kingswood to be opened. The petition received cross-party political support and received 18,000 signatories. The Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) responded by implementing a two-year trial offering minor injury treatment at GP surgeries instead, claiming the costs were half of the anticipated £1m a year for the MIU at Cossham. At the end of the trial period the CCG said it had not been as successful in reducing attendances at Accident & Emergency units as had been hoped. Instead the CCG put investment into the MIU at Yate. As the alternative neither saved money or relieved pressure on A&E services, and East Bristol still does not have a MIU, we now call on the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire CCG to return to the original undertaking to implement a minor injury unit at Cossham Hospital.

Stephen Rodgers, Publisher, The Week In    Contact the author of the petition