March to host meeting on future of MIU units

The event will take place at the town’s community centre on Station Road from 6.30 to 8pm.

The meeting is the third to take place in the district as part of a review of the minor injuries units at the North Cambs Hospital in Wisbech and the Doddington Hospital.

Campaigners fear the units are at risk of closure and have called for the community to unite against any such proposals.

Dozens of people were turned away from similar events in Doddington and Wisbech last month as they could not be accommodated inside the chosen venues.

And Tracy Dowling, lead officer of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough clinical commissioning group (CCG), which is leading the review, admitted turnout had exceeded their expectations.

She added: “We can only apologise for this and reassure people who weren’t able to attend that we do want to hear your views, and additional meetings have been arranged.”

Following tomorrow’s session, further meetings are scheduled to take place at the Queen Mary Centre in Wisbech on Tuesday, September 20, and the parish church in Chatteris on Wednesday, September 21.

Both sessions will run from 6.30 until 8pm and the CCG says further meeting dates are being arranged during the autumn.

Last week, health campaigners warned that the uncertainty over the future of the minor injuries units was part of a much wider funding crisis facing the NHS.

Members of the 38 Degrees campaign group claim the service in the area is facing a potential £250 million shortfall by 2021 and have called on politicians to demand additional resources.

But health chiefs say reform of the service will create a small financial surplus.