New Minor Injuries and Illness unit opens (From Bucks Free Press)
Send your news, photos and videos by texting bucksfreepress to 80360 or email
New Minor Injuries and Illness unit opens at Wycombe Hospital
10:31am Monday 1st October 2012 in News By Lawrence Dunhill
New Minor Injuries and Illness unit opens
MAJOR service changes have been implemented at Wycombe Hospital today – meaning more emergency patients will face a trip to Stoke Mandeville.
More than 50,000 leaflets have been sent out to alert residents to the closure of the hospital’s emergency department.
The Emergency Medical Centre - formerly called A&E – has been replaced by a Minor Injuries and Illness Unit [MIIU].
The new unit, which will be run by GPs, is located in the modern building on the right hand side as you enter the Queen Alexandra Road site.
The MIIU is for non-emergency patients with health problems which are unsuitable for a GP appointment, and which they cannot treat themselves.
It will be open overnight thanks to a successful campaign initiated by the Bucks Free Press.
This means seriously ill or injured patients should go to Stoke Mandeville or Wexham Park hospitals - except for heart attack and stroke patients, who will still be treated at Wycombe.
Hospital chiefs say the changes will lead to emergency patients getting better care in bigger, more specialist A&E departments.
They also expect to reduce the current dependency on expensive agency doctors and nurses - who have regularly been used to plug staffing gaps in the emergency department.
Have you been treated at the new unit? Let us know what you think by contacting Lawrence Dunhill on 01494 755081 or email: ldunhill@london.newsquest.co.uk
Comments are closed on this article.
Comments (21)
10:45am Mon 1 Oct 12
Darren Hayday says...
I'm ****** lost for words over this.
It's shameful and immoral and I'm sure that people will suffer and even die as a result of these changes.
I hope that one day Wycombe will get these lost services back - but I shall not hold my breath.
11:39am Mon 1 Oct 12
Kania 2000 says...
11:59am Mon 1 Oct 12
hm1 says...
Also find irony in "MIIU run by GPs.....for health problems not suitable for a GP appointment."
12:01pm Mon 1 Oct 12
A VOTER says...
I am also very concerned about the time it takes to get from High Wycombe to Stoke Mandeville in an emergency.
On a good day, it’s a 30 minute drive. However, it only takes one hold-up to make the journey substantially more life threatening.
But hey, our Government were happy to spend Eleven Billion Pounds on a two week sporting event. Those that may die as a result of A&E closures should at least be happy that a few Brits got gold medals, instead of keeping vital services open.
12:15pm Mon 1 Oct 12
Gerry47 says...
I bet folk will still turn up at Wycombe Hospital with broken bones and serious head injuries only to be turned away and sent on a 30 minute drive north to SM.
It's only a matter of time until someone involved in a serious accident on the Motorway or is stabbed in the street dies on the way to SM, when emergency treatment in Wycombe would have saved them. But you can bet your bottom dollar that the authorities will never admit that that was the case.
12:23pm Mon 1 Oct 12
J B Blackett says...
.
Put it another way - the new location of the Emergency Unit at SM/Aylesbury has now increased the chance of death for critical accident to anybody in the Wycombe / Marlow / Beaconsfield area by between 25 to 40 % (ie between TWENTY FIVE to FORTY PERCENT).
.
Did we vote for this ? Was it discussed ? Were we asked ? What have our useless MPs in this area doing about it ?
.
Don't bother answering the last one- it is a rhetoric question. Or thinking about accidents on the M40 in this area either.
12:32pm Mon 1 Oct 12
J B Blackett says...
.
How dare those out-of-touch politicians call themselves 'democrats'. What bare-faced affrontery ! It's just yet another blatant dirty lie spat contemptuously into the public's face.
12:38pm Mon 1 Oct 12
A VOTER says...
12:51pm Mon 1 Oct 12
Darren Hayday says...
1:24pm Mon 1 Oct 12
wearywasp says...
2:27pm Mon 1 Oct 12
Darren Hayday says...
2:51pm Mon 1 Oct 12
J B Blackett says...
.
However 'Hear, hear' is an expression used as a short, repeated form of 'hear/her him, hear him/her'. It represents a listener's agreement with the point being made by a speaker.
.
There , there.
3:36pm Mon 1 Oct 12
Darren Hayday says...
You learn something new each and every day (or you should do!).
4:03pm Mon 1 Oct 12
Ivor'sbestfriend says...
5:36pm Mon 1 Oct 12
realist_highwycombe says...
It was bad enough loosing the A&E but to now loose this too is the nail in the coffin.
The hospital site is falling apart and looks dreadful. There is no investment to the site and I think it will only be a matter of time before services are withdrawn all together.
The town is growing year on year, it NEEDS at the very least an Emergency Medical Centre - this just is not good enough.
9:08pm Mon 1 Oct 12
tigeran says...
"It's shameful and immoral" to mouth it off yet have no answer too!!
9:10pm Mon 1 Oct 12
tigeran says...
Yep! Councillors are full of s**t!! Oh hang on, already knew that!
8:28am Tue 2 Oct 12
concerned emg says...
11:17am Tue 2 Oct 12
hm1 says...
11:42am Tue 2 Oct 12
realist_highwycombe says...
3:28pm Tue 2 Oct 12
A VOTER says...
Dear hm1.
My concern related to the time it takes to drive from High Wycombe to Stoke Mandeville, which is 30 minutes on a good day. If you add an average response time of 15 minutes for an ambulance, then it’s likely that the total time to get to Stoke Mandeville will average at about 45 minutes.
Now if you factor in the additional facts provided by concerned emg then we are possibly looking at up to two hours to get to Stoke Mandeville in an emergency.
Now look at all the factors involved that create concern over probable preventable deaths which can be attributed to the closures at High Wycombe. You will see that these closures are going to cause deaths. FACT