The MIU at the the Yeatman Hospital closed on April 6 2020, during the early weeks of lockdown, a decision taken by Dorset Health Care Trust to manage the impact of covid-19. Residents in Sherborne and the surrounding villages, a catchment area with a population of as many as 22,500, who need medical treatment for minor injuries, which include head and eye injuries, burns and scalds and injuries to the back, shoulder and chest, are being advised to ring the Weymouth Urgent Care Centre for assessment.
I have been actively campaigning for the MIU to be reopened, working with the Friends of the Yeatman Hospital, Sherborne Town Council and directly with the Chief Executive of Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust.
On 17th November 2020, in the House of Commons, I asked the Secretary of State for Health for his support in getting an assurance that the MIU will re-open as soon as possible. Matt Hancock, who last met with me at the Yeatman Hospital at the end of 2019, has agreed to meet with me again to make progress on this.
CHRIS LODER MP
The Secretary of State's visit to the Yeatman Hospital in December 2019 [image taken prior to social distancing regulations]