THE MINOR Injuries Unit at Dawlish Hospital remains closed for a third successive week due to staff shortages.

The closure comes as Torbay and South Devon NHS Trust has been urging people to chose the right place for treatment as its accident and emergency department has been described as ‘very busy’.

Health bosses say the ongoing closure is down to staff ‘challenges’ and is asking patients to use services at Newton Abbot and Totnes.

A trust spokesman confirmed the Dawlish MIU will be closed all week.

Meanwhile the Totnes MIU remains open.

The trust says this is due to the fact demand there is higher than in Dawlish.

Staffing for both MIUs and the Urgent Treatment Centre in Newton Abbot comes from a single pool of specialist practitioners.

They are assigned to a service based on demand and the type of care patients are seeking treatment for from urgent and minor injuries service.

A trust spokesman said: ‘Demand for urgent care remains consistently high and staff are prioritised to support our urgent treatment centre at Newton Abbot, followed by Totnes Minor Injuries Unit where demand for care was higher than at Dawlish.

‘Our attempts to strengthen staffing across our UTC and MIUs through recruitment and agency staff was unsuccessful and we’ve had to make the difficult decision to assign colleagues to support services with the greatest demand to ensure we can provide a safe service.

‘We recognise the disruption this has caused patients and staff, but ensuring safe staffing levels is our priority.

‘All factors about demand will be considered by NHS Devon as part of its review or urgent treatment centres and minor injuries units across Devon to form its proposal on the future of any service, supported by a detailed Quality and Equality Impact Assessment and public consultation.’

The trust says the situation in Dawlish is reviewed on a weekly basis and it will only reopen if a ‘safe and consistent’ service can be provided.