Renewed calls have been made on health chiefs to set up a minor injury unit at Cossham Hospital in Kingswood.
More than 2,000 people petitioned the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire clinical commissioning group (CCG) to open a minor injury unit at the hospital. Petitioners said Cossham Hospital, which used to provide emergency care, would fill a service gap in east Bristol.
Currently patients in the east of the city with minor injuries must travel to either Yate, Southmead Hospital or the Bristol Royal Infirmary. But local health bosses said staffing shortages meant they would not consider opening a minor injury unit at Cossham. Now a Kingswood councillor has urged them to reconsider, given the high rates of poor health in the area.
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During a health scrutiny committee at South Gloucestershire Council on June 8, Cllr Andrea Reid said: “This minor injuries unit is long-promised and not delivered. The CCG has now met to consider the petition. People responded in their thousands to this petition, and yet the CCG decided that no debate was necessary. This is needed to tackle health inequalities, which are widening in our communities.
“How on earth do they feel this shapes better health? There was no serious consideration given. I’m staggered and I’m fuming that people are being expected to go out to Yate as their nearest port of call if there is an accident in the family. There aren't adequate transport links at the minute, we know we’re struggling with the bus providers. It’s appalling.”
People in Kingswood have lower life expectancy on average than South Gloucestershire and England, and are more likely to die from preventable diseases, according to a recent cabinet report. More Year 6 children in Kingswood are obese compared to the national average, and one in five people in the town are disabled.
However, despite thousands calling for a new minor injury unit in Kingswood, the CCG said it wouldn’t consider one “at this time” due to challenges recruiting enough staff. Health bosses made the comments at a governing body meeting on April 5.
Minutes of that meeting said: “A minor injury unit at Cossham would not be something the CCG would want to consider at this stage, as it did not form part of the CCGs urgent care strategy. One of our core challenges currently is workforce across the system, and a fourth unit would mean further challenges being able to recruit, and therefore it’s not something the CCG would want to consider at this time.”
