Cannock minor injuries unit could reopen within months after more than two years of closure

The Cannock Hospital-based centre closed in March 2020 to enable staff to provide support for patients needing urgent care at Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital.

But while other services have reopened to patients since, the minor injuries unit remains shut despite repeated calls from community leaders and residents for it to reopen.

More than 3,000 people signed a petition calling on Staffordshire County Council to lobby for action.

Marcus Warnes, Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Clinical Commissioning Groups’ accountable officer, gave county councillors an update on work taking place to get it back up and running.

Phil Hewitt, who represents the Cannock area as a district and county councillor, has had to go out of the district for treatment he would previously have been able to receive in the MIU.

He said: “I broke my leg and I went to Lichfield MIU which was absolutely excellent. But the challenge from then on is I then end up in Burton Hospital for physiotherapy and Burton eventually moved me to Cannock.

“That was fine for me because I have a wife who can drive me and family who can take me. But at the same time I had a constituent who broke her arm, went to Lichfield MIU and got referred to Burton and she hadn’t got the same resource to continue with her treatment.

“Now we have a choice of going with minor things to Wolverhampton, Stafford or Lichfield MIU. It’s putting cars on the road, we’re filling up A&E units which we shouldn’t do and I genuinely think the people of Cannock Chase deserve an MIU. I don’t understand why everywhere else in the Staffordshire area has opened and ours hasn’t.

“This is something that we have been campaigning on for two years. The MIU was very valuable to the people of Cannock Chase and I believe well-loved and well-used by the people of Cannock Chase – certainly by me on numerous occasions as well.

“It closed down as Covid broke. It was the right thing to do and there was no objection whatsoever from members of Cannock Chase because we were aware that resources had to be moved.

“The problem is, going on a number of months there has been no input or indication that it will open at all. And that’s a real concern to us.

“It looks as though we’re either kicking it into the long grass or kicking it right down the football pitch. We get lots of promises but we never seem to get it open.”

Mr Warnes, speaking at the county council’s health scrutiny committee meeting, responded: “The CCGs are fully committed to re-opening the MIU. There are very few services and facilities that were closed as a result of the pandemic that haven’t yet reopened and the MIU is one of those.

“RWT (Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust) are not in a position to reopen it. They’ve got some really serious staffing issues as have MPFT (Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust), so the CCGs are actively working with a couple of other providers to look at procuring a step-in service, which means it can reopen again.

“The skill set of staff that run MIUs is in short supply and great demand. Whilst people may think the pandemic is over it is far from over and we have still got workforce pressures as a result of people testing positive for Covid, which is exacerbating the situation.

“We want a service up and running for the people of Cannock in early summer. We’re probably looking at June which would be realistic given the process that we need to go through.

“We have listened to what people have said in terms of what they use the MIU for and the service model going forward will very much be designed to meet those needs. Around half of people go there with a minor wound and its wound dressing and a raft of other issues and ailments.

“When it does reopen we want it to be designed to meet the needs of the population that used it pre-pandemic.”