AN MP has criticised the decision to close Minehead's Minor Injury Unit overnight, claiming the real reason for the closure was 'to save money'.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust announced earlier this week that the temporary closure of the overnight service at Minehead Community Hospital will now be a permanent closure.

They have said this is due to 'concerns about the safety' of the service, and that the MIU does not meet the 'overnight urgent care needs' of the people in Minehead and surrounding areas.

READ MORE: Decision made to close overnight service at Minehead's Minor Injuries Unit

But MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, Ian Liddell-Grainger, said these reasons were 'meaningless' and claims the real reason for the closure is to save money. 

He said that although Minehead's MIU was the only place offering a night-time service, this was for a good reason.

“Minehead is a long way from Taunton and ambulance response times have frequently been atrocious,” he said.

“And even once an ambulance arrives the journey time can be well over an hour in bad weather – hardly a consoling thought for anyone.

“At least when the unit was operating local people had the comfort of knowing that they could get some form of basic care at the unit, even if they subsequently had to be transferred.

“I am afraid this is yet another example of the health services fiddling around with statistics to justify a hugely unpopular decision.

“When the extended closure was announced in November, I said ‘Clearly what is going to happen now is that on May 1 it [the trust] will announce that Minehead has managed pretty well without the unit for 10 months, no-one has died and therefore the closure will become permanent’.

“I regret to say I was almost right – except that the trust hasn’t even waited until May before pulling the plug.

“I am told Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group is now looking at how the local NHS can meet the need for night-time minor injuries services ‘in a safe and sustainable way’.

“Given the utterly cynical way the various health agencies have treated the people of West Somerset over this issue I am not holding my breath.”

Minehead's MIU has been temporarily closed since July 2021, and the closure was due to last four months.

However, this was extended for a further six months so health bosses could come up with plans to improve acute health services in West Somerset.

READ MORE: Shake up of health services in Minehead planned after MIU closure

Dr Dan Meron, chief medical officer for Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We first closed the Minehead MIU temporarily overnight from July 1 2021 because we had concerns about the safety of the overnight service – and those concerns remain.

“The Trust Board has taken the difficult decision to permanently reduce the hours of the MIU in Minehead because of those concerns and because the overnight service does not meet the needs of the local population.

"However, we have heard what local people have told us about access to urgent care services overnight and Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group is leading work to look at how the local NHS can meet this need in a safe and sustainable way.”