Minehead Hospital's overnight injury unit closure extended

The overnight MIU service operated with minimal staffing

The closure of a hospital's minor injury unit overnight will be extended for six months, it has been announced.

The Minor Injury Unit (MIU) at Minehead Community Hospital temporarily stopped seeing patients during the night from the summer.

At the time Somerset NHS Foundation Trust said it had concerns over the safety of the out-of-hours service.

Managers said the MIU would be closed overnight until May 2022 to ensure it was "safe and operationally robust".

Dr Matt Hayman, from the NHS trust, said: "Potentially life-saving treatment is delayed if patients attend an MIU rather than ringing 999 or going to an Emergency Department and delays in treatment can result in poorer outcomes for the patient."

That would apply to patients with serious conditions such as a heart attack, stroke or major trauma.

It is one of seven across the county, which together see about 105,000 patients per year.