MALVERN Minor Injury Unit is located in the main hospital and is open daily between 9am and 9pm, seven days a week. We have x-ray facilities Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
The unit is run by emergency nurse practitioners who have an advance practice qualification at degree level in minor injuries. These nurses are able to assess, diagnose, request certain x-rays and investigations that may be required. They will make a diagnosis after the x-ray and prescribe any necessary treatment and aftercare.
Nurse practitioners can see and treat the following: minor head injuries, sprains and muscle strains, simple limb fractures including plaster cast application and removal, burns and scalds, wounds that require suturing, nose bleeds, minor eye and ear problems.
The nurse practitioner will see and assess your injury on arrival and it may be necessary for them to refer you to the appropriate professional if required. Staff at the unit can also administer emergency contraception.
Over the past two months we have seen nearly 1,700 patients, On arrival you will be assessed within 15 minutes, and then referred to one of the nurse practitioners in order of priority dependant on your injury. Our work helps to take the strain off A&E departments which should only be used in a real emergency. Of course if your injury does fall into that category then A&E is still the best place for you to be seen.
Minor Injury Units are part of the drive to shift appropriate activity away from acute hospitals (which run A&E departments) and to the communities where people live, and so the convenience of the MIU combined with more favourable waiting times mean patients get a much better overall experience. You can find out more about the Health and Care Trust, including community hospitals and Minor Injury Units online, at www.hacw.nhs.uk
There have been lots of developments at Malvern Community Hospital over the last four years as the Trust which runs the hospital, Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, seeks to provide more care and treatment closer to home and in the local community. Community hospitals like ours play a big role in delivering this vision, and only recently we’ve launched new clinics and services which are being delivered from Malvern which were previously run from the Worcestershire Royal. These includes blood transfusions and ear, nose and throat clinics and clearly those patients requiring those services are better off from having the treatment closer to home.
