Future of minor injury unit in Stonehaven comes under review

The future of Stonehaven’s minor injury unit is under review.

All nine of Aberdeenshire’s nine minor injury units (MIUS) are going to be assessed over the coming months.

The review is being led by the Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership to consider factors such as meeting patient needs appropriately, as well as demand and activity across the area.

The units provide urgent care for minor injuries, including sprains, burns and simple fractures, and usually operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

A report before the Aberdeenshire Integration Joint Board (IJB) outlined that demand is low within some of the units and that this may be having an impact on the ability to deliver a sustainable service.

As well as Stonehaven, the review will cover the units at Fraserburgh, Aboyne, Huntly, Peterhead, Banff, Inverurie, Insch and Turriff.

It was stressed that no proposals for the future of the units would be drawn up until the review has been completed.

Supporting the review, board members felt that there also was a need to generate greater awareness of the location and function of the local units.

IJB chairwoman Councillor Anne Stirling said: “We have to be open-minded about this and look at the opportunities to engage as far as possible, both with the general public and with our health and social care colleagues.”

A steering group has been established to progress the review and engagement events are planned for the communities concerned, and directly with employees.

IJB vice-chairwoman Dr Lynda Lynch said: “While we all as patients have experiences of our local units, what we don’t have is a wider understanding of what we have across Aberdeenshire.

“This review should answer a number of questions for us.”

It is expected that any recommendations stemming from the review will be brought before the IJB in the spring.

In Angus a review into minor injury units is also under way with the county expected to lose two of its four units next year.