Three of Somerset's minor injury units (MIUs) are being forced to cut their opening hours over the winter due to staff shortages.

The Somerset NHS Foundation Trust runs seven MIUs across the county, providing a valuable service for people who cannot access GP appointments but do not need to visit A&E.

The trust announced on Thursday afternoon (October 13) that the MIUs in Burnham-on-Sea, Chard and Shepton Mallet would be implementing temporary closures to ensure they could continue providing a safe service in the face of fewer staff.

The closures will be reviewed on a monthly basis but could remain in place until April 2023.

The three MIUs in question have been affected by "ongoing workforce shortages", which has led to a number of unplanned closures at short notice.

To ensure a safe service can be provided across all seven sites, the trust will be consolidating its staff and restricting the opening hours at Burnham-on-Sea, Chard and Shepton Mallet.

Similar concerns over staffing levels led the trust to permanently end the overnight service at the Minehead MIU in March (though the site remains open to patients between 8am and 9pm).

Dr Matthew Hayman, the trust's deputy chief medical officer, said: "Over the past few weeks, we have experienced increasing difficulties in staffing our MIUs which has led to frequent, unplanned changes to opening times in some areas.

"A combination of staff sickness, relocation, retirement, maternity leave and taking up jobs elsewhere in the NHS means that ten of our 30 posts for the most senior clinicians (our emergency nurse practitioners) within our MIUs, have been vacant since the end of September – which has an impact on our ability to provide safe services without consolidating our teams and restricting the opening hours at some units.

"We want to make sure that we can provide a consistent and safe service for patients and their families.

"We have therefore consolidated our workforce and taken the difficult decision to temporarily restrict the opening hours of some units so that we can run all of them safely.

"We are doing everything we can to provide consistent services at all our locations across the county and to recruit and train the clinicians we need to expand the opening times at the MIUs in Burnham-on-Sea, Chard and Shepton Mallet."

Under the interim changes, Burnham-on-Sea MIU – located on the B3140 Love Lane – will open on weekdays between 10am and 6pm but have no weekend service.

Chard MIU – located off the A30 Crewkerne Road – will be open between 8am and 9pm every day except Wednesdays and Fridays.

Shepton Mallet MIU – on Bucklers Way – will only open on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays between 8am and 4pm, being closed on all other days.

The four other MIUs in Somerset – located in Bridgwater, Frome, Glastonbury and Minehead – will continue to be open from 8am to 9pm daily.

Bernie Marden, chief medical officer at NHS Somerset, said: "We recognise that any changes of health and care provision can cause concern, and appreciate that the amended opening hours across the MIUs in Burnham-on-Sea, Chard and Shepton may have an impact on some patients.

"It is vital that healthcare services in our communities not only have safe and appropriate staffing levels, but also can provide consistent access to ensure patients can be cared for and treated accordingly.

"The adjustment to the opening times of these MIUs ensures that this is the case, ensuring that the provision of this service can continue in the most

appropriate way for patients.

"We work closely to constantly review and mitigate challenges within the healthcare system to ensure our focus remains on the needs of our patients, and we have worked closely with colleagues in Somerset FT to support these changes in the best way possible.

"GP practices are also working together as primary care networks to provide evening and Saturday appointments to meet the healthcare needs of their

communities. Patients can access these appointments through their usual GP surgery."

NHS England published plans in June which require all GP surgeries in England to offer appointments until 8pm on weekdays and between 9am and 5pm on Saturdays, as part of a drive towards "enhanced access" to health services across England.

Mr Marden added: "For people with minor illnesses – including hay fever, coughs and colds, skin infections as well as aches and pains – they can speak to their local pharmacist or use our NHS Somerset GP community pharmacy consultation service, which offers patients a same-day appointment for more than 40 minor conditions at a community pharmacist of their choice, when they are offered an appointment for this service by their surgery.

"For those needing out-of-hours support and advice, people should continue to contact 111 either online at www.111.nhs.uk or by calling NHS 111, which helps to ensure people get the right medical advice or treatment more quickly.

"If needed, they will be able to arrange for individuals to be seen safely by the service that best meets their healthcare needs."

The temporary MIU closures will be reviewed on a monthly basis, but could last for up to six months – meaning they could remain in place until late-April 2023.