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Update on St Albans Minor Injuries Unit

Posted: 10 February 2021

Logos for West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Herts Valleys CCG

The Minor Injuries Unit (MIU) at St Albans City Hospital continues to remain temporarily closed as part of West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The trust has redeployed a large number of staff through both waves of the pandemic to support a very high number of critically unwell patients while also managing increased levels of staff sickness due to Covid or the need to self-isolate. There is also a need to keep St Albans City Hospital as a Covid-free site so that planned surgery can safely take place there.

Separate to the temporary closure, the hospital trust and Herts Valleys CCG had started work to review the minor injuries unit at St Albans City Hospital in the light of local needs and bearing in mind that the NHS nationally is looking for more standardisation for urgent care across areas. This review has not progressed significantly whilst colleagues have been focused on the pandemic response. We have recently resumed this work so that we can consider what the future urgent care service in St Albans could look like. We will fully involve local people in considering options and coming to conclusions. We expect to be starting those conversations in early spring.

In the meantime St Albans residents continue to be able to access urgent care through the NHS 111 service by phone or online at https://111.nhs.uk. Where patients need to be seen the NHS111 service can book people into an appointment at nearby urgent treatment centres at Hemel Hempstead Hospital or at Watford General Hospital.

Patients who have sustained serious injuries and/or are suffering blood loss or a serious deterioration should call 999. No one with COVID-19 symptoms should attend any medical setting unless explicitly directed by the NHS 111 service or the 999 call operator.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For more information, please contact West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, westherts.communications@nhs.net or Herts Valleys CCG, communications.hvccg@nhs.net.

  1. For more information, please contact the communications team on: 01923 436280 or email: wherts-tr.communications@nhs.net. For out of hours media enquiries please call the Watford General Hospital switchboard on 01923 244366 and ask for the on call communications manager.
  2. West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves people from across Hertfordshire, north London and further afield. It operates from three hospitals; Watford General, St Albans City and Hemel Hempstead. The trust has a catchment area of over 500,000 people and is one of the largest employers locally, with around 5,000 staff and volunteers.
  3. For more information about our hospitals, visit www.westhertshospitals.nhs.uk. You can also join our followers on Twitter (twitter.com/westhertsNHS) and find us on Facebook (facebook.com/westhertsNHS).