Week-long closure of Helston minor injury unit

Message from Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Health and Care Partnership:

Following careful consideration, system clinical leaders and managers have taken the decision to close the minor injury unit at Helston hospital for a week from Wednesday 11 August until 8am on Wednesday 18 August 2021.

The decision has not been taken lightly and has been made in response to staff sickness, which is unrelated to COVID-19, at Camborne and Redruth community hospital. The decision is in line with the system’s hierarchy to protect and maintain core minor injury sites and services and is in line with the Trust’s business continuity plan, both of which focus on maintaining services at our largest and busiest units.

The decision will allow us to maintain the service at Camborne and Redruth’s minor injury unit which is the largest and busiest in the county – treating over 3,000 people last month. The unit at Camborne and Redruth also has longer opening hours, includes a primary care centre and has x-ray facilities available between 8am and 8pm every day.

This approach is identical to the one recently taken in Launceston to maintain services across the rest of north and east Cornwall but with a shorter period of closure. Other services have also been consolidated in response to an unrelenting surge in demand for health and care services.

Heading into the Boardmasters Festival, our focus is placing our resources where we know we will have demand and for the period of the festival will include the minor injury units in Newquay, Camborne/Redruth, Bodmin and St Austell Hospitals.

We would encourage people to talk before you walk and those who need urgent, but not emergency care, should go online or call 111 before attending a unit so you can be booked in. 111 will direct people to the most appropriate facility for their need which could be a pharmacy, GP, or alternative minor injury unit in the area.