Controversial plans to cut the overnight hours at a north-east minor injury unit are now on the back-burner while more research is carried out.
The Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership had been gearing up to present the Integration Joint Board with proposals to close the Minor Injury Unit at Chalmers hospital overnight.
But today it was revealed that during multi-agency discussions it was decided that more information was needed before they could proceed.
Angie Wood for the partnership said, “As with the other areas that have been part of this review process, it is vitally important that we have the confidence of the all of the stakeholders in the recommendations we put forward to the Integration Joint Board”
“In Friday’s meeting we had an open and honest discussion about the recommendations we were due to put to the IJB and we agreed that it would be best to delay these until we can complete a further, intensive piece of data collection. Over the next month we will take an in depth look at activity in the out of hours period at the unit, including patient outcomes.
“Agreeing to hold off making any recommendations and really studying the new data, will allow us to work with the staff to shape the future operating model of the unit and hopefully will give the wider community confidence in the process.
“As I said at the meeting the recommendations following this additional piece of work might be the same, but with greater involvement from the staff at Chalmers and from the local community, I hope we will have more confidence in any recommendations we put forward in the future.”
