Injuries unit staff turning away patients

Hospital worker Eileen Bright said the section was so stretched that staff were struggling to cope with the numbers seeking treatment.

The unit is open between 9am and 5pm on weekdays. It can deal with people injured by falling over or who have been badly cut. The last stated usage was 12,000 patients a year.

At other times, patients have to head for the accident and emergency department at St Richard's Hospital at Chichester.

But Mrs Bright, who works in the hospital's front office, told last week's meeting about the future of health services in West Sussex that staff in the unit were struggling to cope with an influx of patients.

Workers from Eastern Europe, residents and visitors were making use of the services available at the Shripney Road site to treat the walking wounded.

Attention ought to be focused on Bognor's hospital amid all the talk about St Richard's and Worthing.

She said: 'The minor injuries unit is so stretched. The place is absolutely heaving. We are very overcrowded.'

At 4pm on the busiest days, a board had to be put out telling patients that the unit was full and unable to cope with anyone else.'I like to think that situation will be taken on board in this review,' she stated.

The unit is run by St Richard's in partnership with the Bognor hospital's operator, West Sussex NHS Primary Care Trust.

Carol Gareze, the trust's director of community and primary care services, said at the meeting it monitored the amount of work carried out at minor injury units at community hospitals such as Bognor.

'If the usage of Bognor is going to be increasing, it could be opened for longer. That is part of our plan to use our community hospitals to their best advantage,' she said.

She also assured the audience the overall role of community hospitals would be considered once the decision had been taken about which changes should be made to the bigger hospitals such as St Richard's.

That outcome would be known next spring. It would take 3-5 further years to make the changes in services.

'Arundel Hospital will be looked at after this consultation because we want to use the community hospitals to their best and fullest potential. Arundel will be looked at, as well as Bognor, as part of that perusal and development.

'We need to see where the major general hospital is to see how the other hospitals work around it,' she stated.

'The whole NHS has to work together as part of one jigsaw. It is really important to see how it all fits together.'

A trust spokeswoman said after the meeting: 'The welfare of our patients is our top priority and we would never do anything to jeopardise that.'

Money spent on extra opening hours for the minor injuries unit would need to offer good value because other services or treatments also demanded more money.

In February 2004, a survey by the trust's predecessor showed residents wanted Bognor's minor injuries unit to be open around the clock.