Hospital injuries unit to close

Doctors said they were spending too much time at the hospital unit

Plans have emerged to switch a Powys minor injuries unit (MIU) from a community hospital to a town centre medical practice.

GPs running the unit in Newtown said increased demand meant they were not spending enough time at their own surgery.

Doctors are in talks with Powys Local Health Board (LHB) about the proposals and expect to open the unit in January.

The LHB said locating it within the practice would make it easier to use.

Newtown Medical Practice said its GPs resigned from the hospital in June, but they decided to work there until the new year to give the LHB time to appoint new doctors.

"In recent years providing in-patient hospital services has required that the doctors spend more time out of the surgery and changes to our contract with the LHB have increased this demand," a statement from the practice said.

Main priority

"It was felt that this was impinging on our ability to deliver our services within the surgery.

"Combining this with increasing patient numbers and demands for appointments has made it more difficult to meet clinical governance requirements in both hospital and surgery settings."

The medical practice added that the main priority was its 14,640 registered patients.

Powys LHB's director of operations David Evans said GPs had taken the decision to stop working at Newtown hospital.

"Health service needs change over the years and the amount of commitment they need to provide at the hospital they do not feel they can deliver," he added.

He said there was an overlap between MIUs and GP surgeries so bringing them together made sense.

Out-of-hours care would be provided by the Shropdoc service, explained Mr Evans.