Opening hours for a minor injuries unit in the north have been altered for the remainder of the week to help cope with growing staff pressures.
The Minor Injuries Unit/Urgent Care Centre (MIU/UCC) at the Dunbar Hospital in Thurso will remain closed for intermittent periods until Sunday to help minimise the impact on patients.
Lesley Kinloch, NHS Highland’s Caithness district manager, said: “The opening hours have been changed this week due to staffing shortages during a major holiday period. This decision has not been taken lightly and we are working hard to minimise any inconvenience and to increase staffing capacity over the next 4-8 weeks. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.”
The unit will remain open for 12 hours today from 7am until 7pm before reopening from 7am until midnight the following day.
From Thursday through to Sunday, the unit will be open from midnight through to 7pm before reopening at 9.30pm, with the service due to reopen from 7am on Monday morning.
During this time, patients can still access emergency service by dialling 999 if they experience a medical emergency with the ambulance service responding as appropriate.
Local residents are also advised that if it’s not an emergency they should contact NHS24 for advice by calling 111 and, if required, the call will be routed to the closest centre for the Out-of-Hours doctor.
