MP Claire Perry’s Westminster Hall debate on Minor Injuries Services in the Devizes Constituency

On Tuesday 13th July Claire Perry, Marlborough’s MP, secured a Westminster Hall debate on Minor Injuries Services in the Devizes Constituency. Following the brief article earlier today on Marlborough People, what follows is a summary of the main points of her speech, and the requests she made to Health Minister Simon Burns MP.

WHAT THE CONSTITUENCY HAS LOST:

 In the Devizes Hospital, the Unicef award winning maternity unit, the in-patients facilities, the minor injuries services and now the X ray department are all gone.

 In Marlborough, the day hospital, maternity unit, the MI facility, and now 50% of the in-patient beds are also all gone. 

This pattern has been replicated across the rest of Wiltshire as services are farmed out to Neighbourhood or Community teams (which can deliver good outcomes in some, but not all cases) or concentrated in larger hospitals in the bigger cities of Swindon, Bath and Salisbury. 

REASONS WHY DEVIZES REQUIRES A LOCAL MIU:

The Constituency of Devizes ranks among the 20th lowest for population density in England with only 20 people per hectare and there are almost no dual carriageways, no railways that connect our major towns and few direct bus services.

 As a result, journey times are extended, and for families or individuals without full-time access to private transport (up to 25% of people in the town of Devizes according to some reports) the logistics of getting injuries treated can be formidable.  

 In fact, it is impossible to take a direct bus from Marlborough to any of the designated centres for minor injuries care.

 If you live in Pewsey, the NHS Direct guidance is to go to Swindon Hospital A and E unit. A journey of  “only” 16 miles but one that according to Google directions takes between 38 to 46 minutes.  A resident of Honey Street would make a journey of 37 minutes to Chippenham, or 40 minutes to  Trowbridge.

There is only one other constituency with a lower population density and no MI provision (SW Norfolk) and in fact, most of the other “spread out’ rural constituencies have more than one.  North Devon, with a similar population density for example has 4 units, Rutland and Melton, 3 units and the nearby Cotswolds also 3 units.

· The population continues to grow in the constituency- up 5% since the turn of the decade.

· The Alberti report titled “Emergency Access”, published by the NHS in 2006 suggested that many of the patients currently attending A&E departments could be better treated in a local urgent care centre and that more nurses, paramedics and Emergency Care practitioners should be used to treat patients. 

 · The Wiltshire PCT’s own data shows that last year there were 17,086 attendances of patients registered in the Devizes Constituency, at the MIU services in Trowbridge and Chippenham and the A&E facilities in Salisbury and Bath. The cost of providing these services (the tariff paid) was £1,351,187[5].

There is therefore and obvious business case to be made for re-starting a Minor Injuries service within the constituency as long as the total cost was below the current tariff being paid. 

 CLAIRE THEREFORE ASKED HEALTH MINISTER SIMON BURNS MP FOR:

· Guidance as to what we can do, in the light of our NHS reforms, to move the process forward?

· The current PCT has no interest in re-commissioning this service, can the Minister tell us if we can “go around” the PCT in this interim period and potentially commission the service under the Sustainable Communities Act?

· If we have to wait until 2013 to present to the National Commissioning Body what would we need to put in a business plan?

· Are we able to start making progress, for example, by looking for voluntary sector partners now, to begin a pilot programme?