Dear Editor

This is a copy of a letter I would like the Chief Executive of the Wye Valley Trust to see:

Your closing of the MIU in Ross will be disastrous for the people that you are supposed to support and help. Especially at this time of year. I am an ex Paramedic Instructor and have a raft of knowledge and experience in the help that MIU’s can and do provide to our public.

It is an insensitive move to close this unit, taking away from the public, care that can be provided locally and easily.

Plus should any ambulance vehicle be required for a patient, to transport from this area, to one of the major hospitals for treatment, then it takes that vehicle away from it’s other potential duties. This one thing on its own can be disastrous for other, more life threatening conditions that may occur for people.

If you yourself live close to a major hospital  or are in good health then I’m sure you will be ok, but, if you or your family require ambulance transport and treatment of a serious nature, let’s start with resuscitation, serious medical conditions and trauma in the pre-hospital environment. Then to find out that no vehicle is available, at your most needy time because it is being used for a minor injury that could have been treated in a MIU. 

Perhaps this logic will sway and reverse your callous decision to deprive the people of this area a necessary place of treatment. Having spent 35 years helping and treating the public  I am appalled at how you could even consider closing this Minor Injuries Unit.

Richard Sharpey  

Ross-on-Wye