Minor Injuries service at Tavistock Hospital set to reopen in the New Year

The Minor Injuries service at Tavistock Hospital will reopen in the new year of 2020.

It was hoped that the service would reopen on Tuesday 5 November but unfortunately it has been necessary to extend the temporary closure until the New Year 2020.

The Minor Injuries Unit at Tavistock Hospital was temporarily closed in August 2019 due to staffing shortages that could not be rectified short term.

Since August, as a Trust we have recruited and are currently training four additional members of staff. In order to run the Minor Injuries Service across the Cumberland Centre, Tavistock and Kingsbridge, we need to recruit and train at least a further four senior practitioners. This will ensure we have sufficient staff to cover the service and that all staff are trained and supported to the right level. As senior practitioners, and sometimes sole providers of the Minor Injuries service in venues such as Tavistock, we have to ensure they have the right training, experience and support to practice.

We are confident the steps we are taking now will give us a strong and resilient staffing structure for the future minor injuries service, which is much valued by the public and ourselves. Tavistock MIU sees an average of around 23 patients a day.

In the meantime, patients who would normally use Tavistock Minor Injuries Unit can use the Cumberland Centre or visit the Minor Injuries Units in Liskeard, Launceston or Okehampton. Details for these units can be found here.

We have also put in place arrangements so that if you are registered with the below GP practices, they also offer a Minor Injury Service:

Abbey 
Tavyside
Yelverton
Okehampton  (open to all, including non-registered patients).

Please note this temporary closure only affects Tavistock Minor Injuries Unit, not any other part of Tavistock Hospital.