Council backs call to reintroduce minor injuries unit at Chepstow hospital

A minor injuries unit should be reintroduced at Chepstow Community Hospital, Monmouthshire councillors have said.

A motion which won cross party support at a full council meeting on Thursday calls on Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (ABUHB) to bring back the unit which it closed in 2011.

The health board made the decision based on staff levels and patient demand at the time.

Put forward by Chepstow councillor Armand Watts, the motion congratulates the health board for the opening of Grange University Hospital ahead of schedule.

“This council recognises and agrees with the heath board’s strategic reconfiguration of its minor injuries units back into our local community hospitals across Gwent,” it says.

“With that in mind Monmouthshire County Council calls on ABUHB to reintroduce the minor injuries unit to Chepstow Community Hospital.”

Cllr Watts said it is time to review the decision due to new housing developments for hundreds of homes on both sides of the border and the scrapping of the Severn bridge tolls.

He said Chepstow Community Hospital was a “wonderful facility” for the community but that it has been “massively underused”.

People in Chepstow have to travel 19 miles to their nearest minor injuries unit in Newport which Cllr Watts said is the “furthest point to travel for that specific service across Gwent”.

Council leader, Cllr Peter Fox, gave his support to the motion, describing Chepstow hospital as a “little jewel in the crown” which he said “could do so much more”.

“There’s an opportunity here for them to think again around how they can use that provision better for our community,” he said.

Labour group leader, Cllr Dimitri Batrouni, said reintroducing the minor injuries unit made “complete sense” as it would ease pressure on A&E services and people would be treated locally.

Cllr Penny Jones, cabinet member for social care, safeguarding and health, said she had been told by a health board director that it would not be revisiting the decision.

But she said the council would “keep trying” to raise the issue.

“In light of the increased numbers and the population increase in Chepstow I think there is room for a change of heart,” she said.

The motion was also backed by Independent councillor Frances Taylor who said plans to develop facilities at Chepstow hospital were unclear.

Liberal Democrat Linda Guppy said the hospital needed “better facilities for the community” but not a minor injuries unit.

Supporting the motion, Caldicot councillor Tony Easson said withdrawing services had left the area with “a very empty hospital”.