Update on the Burnham-on-Sea Hospital Minor Injuries Unit

We are working on a proposal to improve the resilience and reliability of the minor injury unit (MIU) in Burnham-on-Sea by relocating the service from Burnham-on-Sea Community Hospital to the closely located Burnham Medical Centre, on a trial basis.

Andy Heron, our chief operating officer, says: “We’re very committed to the teams and services that run the MIU in Burnham-on-Sea and we know how important these are for local communities.

“Over the past few months, we have experienced a number of short-term, short notice closures of our minor injuries service due to workforce shortages, so we are working with our primary and secondary care teams to consider different ways to deliver a more integrated and resilient, same day, urgent care service for local people.

“Maintaining and continuing to develop our MIUs and urgent treatment centres is a vital part of our strategy to meet the healthcare care needs of our Somerset population within local communities and away from our busy emergency departments, where we need to prioritise patients with the most serious health conditions.

“The proposal to re-locate the MIU to Burnham-on-Sea Medical Centre, will help to create more resilience and increase capacity, while continuing to offer a 7-day service from 10am-6pm for everyone in the local area.

“Over the coming weeks, our teams will continue to work through the detail of this proposal, and we will update our teams, local people and partners.”

Further information

Existing primary care services at Burnham Medical Centre will run as usual and are not affected by the proposal.

People should continue to attend planned appointments and access the community hospital, minor injury unit and their GP services as usual.

Burnham Medical Centre is run by Symphony Healthcare Services, and is part of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.