Graham Stuart MP has cleared his diary on Monday to attend a key NHS stakeholder event in Beverley, where he will argue that proposals to close the Minor Injuries Units in Hornsea and Withernsea should be scrapped.
The East Riding Clinical Commissioning Group’s Urgent Care Review stakeholder event will take place at the Hexagon Music Centre in Beverley. It will be attended by GP Patient Groups, the NHS and East Riding Council as well as a range of partner organisations from the community and voluntary sectors. The meeting is intended to help shape the CCG’s options prior to issuing a formal public consultation in July.
Graham will argue on behalf of his constituents that the Hornsea and Withernsea MIUs do vital work serving their relatively isolated communities and that proposals by the CCG to close the two centres for cost reasons are unacceptable.
The news comes on the same day that the Eastgate Medical Group and the Hornsea Cottage Hospital League of Friends have issued a joint statement expressing their united opposition to any proposed closure of, or reduction in, services at Hornsea’s MIU.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Graham said,
“People in both Hornsea and Withernsea are telling me loud and clear how much they value their MIUs and want them to stay open. Well over a thousand local people have already signed the “Save Our MIU” petition I am coordinating together with the Withernsea and District Health Forum and Hornsea Hospital League of Friends, and there was a fantastic turnout at the rally we held at Withernsea Hospital in April.
“Monday’s meeting will be a really important opportunity for me to make the case to the CCG and health professionals that the two MIUs need to be retained so they can keep treating almost 7,000 people a year – helping people in their home communities and alleviating the pressure on A&E services in Hull. When I heard about this meeting I was determined to seize this chance and I have reorganised a range of meetings in Westminster, including with ministers, to be there.”
