Minor Injuries Units are here to help you and your family
A married couple from Tamworth have revealed how vital their local Minor Injuries Unit is to their community after each had a fall and required treatment.
Peggy and Peter Thelwell found themselves in need of urgent medical assistance recently when both suffered nasty injuries following two separate falls.
Whilst her husband gashed his arm and leg, Peggy fractured her finger and took all of the skin off her shin, with both making the correct decision to attend Sir Robert Peel Community Hospital’s Minor Injuries Unit, instead of going to A&E.
Minor Injuries Units can offer treatment to adults and children for sprains, suspected broken limbs, burns, cuts, throat infections and other minor injuries or illnesses – and provide a service that Peggy has highlighted as being extremely important to the community.
She said: “Unfortunately, my husband and I suffered separate falls recently and had to go to the Minor Injuries Unit, where the staff were brilliant with us. When my husband had a fall, I took him to Sir Robert Peel Community Hospital, where they dressed the wound for us, and then we came back again when I had a fall in the garden. They did an x-ray at the Minor Injuries Unit and found that I’d fractured my finger, and my hand was then put in a splint.
“There might be a lot of people that don’t realise that there is a Minor Injuries Unit in Tamworth, but we rely on it a lot, and this kind of service is vital for our community. We were both seen a lot quicker than we would have been, had we gone to A&E. In fact, we were only in there for an hour – straight in and out. The staff there have been absolutely brilliant with us and I can’t tell you enough how grateful we are to them.”
Minor Injuries Units in East Staffordshire are open for more than 13 hours a day and can be found at Sir Robert Peel Community Hospital, in Tamworth, and also at Samuel Johnson Community Hospital, in Lichfield.
There is no onsite doctor on the Minor Injuries Units, although the nurse-led service is supported by local GPs, who attend planned sessions there, with staff also able to redirect patients to A&E, their GP, or another NHS service more appropriate for their condition, if needed.
There are also five Urgent Treatment Centres across Derbyshire in Ripley, Ilkeston, Buxton, Whitworth and Derby's city centre.