Wednesday, July 25, 2007

A&E consultation (on 12 Sept & 13 Sept)

Regarding proposed cuts to the Swanage MIU there is a second public consultation meeting being held at

The Methodist Church Hall, High Street, Swanage

on

12th Sept and again on 13th Sept, from 6.30 — 8.30pm.
Posted by at

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thought this was an interesting response on the Echo's website to the recent announcement about the proposal to cut the opening hours of the MIU:

'That's a laugh: "The Dorset Out of Hours Medical Service would provide alternative care during the night".

Ask anyone who has tried to get a Doctor to visit out of hours. You may be lucky... but don't depend on it.

Anyone who has tried to get a Doctor will be aware that ONE Doctor and an ambulance Emergency Care Practitioner (ECP) are based at St Leonards near Ringwood, and cover from New Milton around to Swanage. There is ONE at Poole, but he/she does not venture into Purbeck.

Allow for the ferry to stop operating just after 11pm and it's a very long way round if the Doc happens to be in New Milton.

Invariably, more so than at present, excessive pressure will put on the local Ambulance Service who will now have no local MIU to take minor injuries to. It will be a trip to Poole General everytime (unless you can persuade the Doc to come, and are willing to wait the standard "within 3 hours")!'

Certainly food for thought particularly as it was written by somebody resident in Poole and therefore without an apparent vested interest in the situation?

27/7/07 11:21 am
Postman2 said...

So if it costs £100,000 a year to keep open, and we have 12,000 residents in Swanage just charge everyone £8 each more a year in tax?

27/7/07 2:07 pm
Anonymous said...

This is a minor injuries unit for goodness sake, not an E&E department. They treat things like sprained ankles and minor cuts. Anyone presenting with a life threatening condition has gone to the wrong place and could have saved precious time by phoning the out of hours service who would have sent an ambulance if that was appropriate. This point seems to have missed all those good folk who are telling hysterical tales of lifesaving interventions.

27/7/07 4:19 pm
The Postman said...

They chose to call it a 'Minor Injuries Unit' which makes it seem less useful than an Accident & Emergency centre. Of course, if you know something is life-threatening you dial 999. But many (considerate) people feel it is irresponsible to call 999 if they are really concerned but don't believe something is life threatening. My concern for keeping the place open is not primarily for cuts and bruises nor, of course, for real 999 emergencies, but for those who go along because they are seriously worried. They either get reassurance, are treated or are told that the situation is really serious and an ambulance is called. I would like to know how many people fall into this category (about from my own family).

27/7/07 4:36 pm
Anonymous said...

Stitches, why have to go all the way to Poole for stitches?

27/7/07 5:27 pm
Anonymous said...

Isn't there also the out of hours service, who 'moderate' on what is needed.

Maybe it's because of poor advertising, but I understand that they should be our first point of call. Mind you I don't know their number!

I'd rather the £100K was spent on improving the day services.

27/7/07 5:28 pm
Anonymous said...

In response to 4.36pm my family have certainly needed it on this basis within the last 5 years - once my husband ended up being taken into PGH by ambulance from the MIU and then was in hospital for almost a week and, another time, my eldest daughter needed the attention of a doctor (under the current system of Out of Hours cover)but this was not available and therefore we spent at least 4 hours achieving this over in Poole having been re-directed by the MIU....and yes, we did write to our MP and the PCT about the inadequate service at the time! Unfortunately it took a further two letters before we received a response from the PCT though.

Unfortunately with the arrival of the new GP contracts the Out of Hours cover, at times, is ad hoc and therefore less than adequate. The MIU serves as a basic safety net particularly if the comments at 11.21 am are correct! Or does anyone know otherwise?

27/7/07 5:32 pm
The Postman said...

Apparently "the proposed meeting will NOT now be on 12th Sept - they are looking for a different venue as they were not happy with the Mowlem." More news later

31/7/07 8:59 am
Anonymous said...

Lets hope that they get their skates on because the consultation finishes on 17.09.07! I think they will be hard pressed to find a suitable alternative right now...Swanage Middle School probably has all the right facilities but will the PCT know this? Does it care?

1/8/07 8:31 am

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