PLANS to axe a minor injuries unit in Glasgow days before Christmas will pile pressure on emergency departments, a nursing union has warned.
Anne Thomson, a senior officer for the Royal College of Nursing Scotland, said that the decision to close the facility at Yorkhill, in the west of Glasgow, on December 23 was based on "dubious" claims that the number of patients using it was much lower than other units.
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Figures supplied to the Herald show that the number of people visiting the unit during the past four months has been static, averaging 32.7 per day - roughly equivalent on a staff-to-patient ratio with the city's larger MIU's at the Victoria Infirmary and Stobhill Hospital.
Ms Thomson said: "What we have discovered is that their figures are not correct. The Yorkhill Unit is a lot smaller than the one at the Victoria, for example. It's not correct to say it's underused - it's used as much as the staffing permits.
"Our concern is that it's closing on December 23, right before a two-week holiday period and right in the middle of winter. The pressure on A&E goes ballistic in January and February and it's sky-high in the festive period when people can't see a GP."
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde announced last week that the Yorkhill unit would close, with staff transferred to the new Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Govan.
An NHS source said it was a "complete falsehood" that the Yorkhill unit was underused, adding: "If patients stop getting served by the MIU at Yorkhill, that's 30 patients that are going to arrive at the Queen Elizabeth site. They're seeing about 280-300 patients a day, so you're adding 10 per cent onto that workload and it's already overstretched."
It comes as the latest A&E waiting times statistics for the week ending November 20 show that only 77.4 per cent of patients at the QEUH were processed within the four-hour target, the lowest since January.
MIU's are staffed by emergency nurse practitioners trained in procedures such as plastering broken bones, treating dog bites or stitching cuts. The Yorkhill unit opened in January this year on the site of the former children's hospital, but RCN Scotland said it had never been well publicised.
A spokeswoman for NHSGGC said: "The minor injuries unit at West Glasgow will transfer to the Queen Elizabeth university hospital on December 23.
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"Demand for the service at the former Yorkhill Hospital is less than expected and the numbers treated there each week are significantly lower than at our other minor injury units.
"Patients in west Glasgow already attend the Queen Elizabeth emergency department for more serious injuries and illnesses.
"We are therefore taking the opportunity to transfer the small team of nurses who work in the minor injuries unit to the Queen Elizabeth as part of our plans to prepare for the busy winter period. This will help us use our resources efficiently and effectively to respond to the pressured we face at winter.
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