The Minor Injuries Unit at Altrincham Hospital is to be permanently closed.
Today's decision follows a meeting of Greater Manchester’s Integrated Care Board this afternoon.
It has accepted a series of recommendations following a review of urgent care provision in Trafford, which included the unit’s permanent closure.
That's despite cross-party opposition to the move, including from new Altrincham and Sale West MP Connor Rand, who used his maiden speech in the House of Commons to register his opposition.
Minor injuries services and staff will now be permanently relocated to Wythenshawe Hospital, and the two rooms that had been dedicated to minor injuries at Altrincham will not be reopened.
The unit has been closed - with the exception of a single month in July 2021 - since lockdown in March 2020.
The Urgent Care Review, undertaken by NHS Greater Manchester (GM) and partners, had said that, when open, the unit treated an average of 49 patients a day, with approximately 65% living within three miles.
The review therefore concluded that the service "served a small proportion of the Trafford population who, as described on the previous slide, can access an urgent treatment centre within a short distance".
All other services currently being provided at Altrincham Hospital are planned to continue.
Following today's decision, the chief executive of NHS GM Mark Fisher said: “The minor injuries unit was stood down during the Covid-19 pandemic due to national shortages in specialist nursing staff required to run the unit.
“Permanent closure would involve the continued relocation of the MIU’s services and staff to Wythenshawe Hospital, approximately three miles away.
“All other services currently being provided at Altrincham Hospital will continue and other options for the use of these two rooms will now be considered.
“In addition, we will investigate the possibility of bringing ‘out-of-hours’ (outside 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday) GP care into, or closer to, Trafford, as well as improved methods of communication with patients to help to direct them to the right services.”
Local MP Connor Rand said he was "deeply disappointed" by the news.
He said: "I wrote to the Integrated Care Board before this decision was made and urged them to reject the recommendation to permanently close the Minor Injuries Unit and to consider upgrading the facility to an Urgent Care Centre instead. I also voiced my opposition to closing the Unit in the first question I asked in Parliament.
"While I understand the huge pressures the Board faces following 14 years of Conservative failure on the NHS, I know the Minor Injuries Unit was a service that was greatly valued by my constituents, and I felt reopening it and enhancing it could have been an effective way to reduce pressure on Wythenshawe A&E.
"My focus now is to ensure that the Minor Injuries Unit is replaced by new facilities at Altrincham Hospital that will give my constituents the care they deserve, alongside the hospital’s important existing functions. I’ll be working hard to make sure this happens as soon as possible.”
