Two minor injuries units which shut at the very start of the pandemic remain closed due to significant staffing problems, it has been revealed.
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said minor injury units (MIUs) at Dolgellau and Tywyn hospitals temporarily closed in March 2020 as part of plans to manage the response to Covid-19.
But 16 months on and both units still cannot reopen due to a lack of staff to work in them, forcing patients to travel to busy A&E departments, call the Welsh Ambulance Service or manage their problems at home.
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Anthony Pearson, 74, from Abergynolwyn, Gwynedd, injured his hand on a door while cleaning his local church on June 26 and suffered torn skin which he thought would need stitches.
"There was quite a bit of blood. I covered it with sticking plasters and a plastic glove and set off to Tywyn Health Centre in the hope that the minor injuries unit there might be open," he recalled.
"I had been there before for a very effective treatment many years ago, and I thought that as the Covid infection rate was getting better that it would be open for patients again.
"My wife and I were together when this incident happened. We drove to Tywyn, but before we got there she phoned the hospital who said the MIU was still closed, and so was the one in Dolgellau.
"So we were told to turn around and go to Bronglais Hospital [in Aberystwyth] instead which is about an hour's drive."
The grandfather-of-four questioned why both MIUs were closed at a time when routine NHS services were starting to resume once more.
"If people can't be treated at their minor injuries unit, they will end up calling ambulances, being taken to other hospitals or clogging up the NHS system elsewhere," he added.
"When our schools are open again and pubs and restaurants can again take people indoors, is there a special reason why a minor injuries unit cannot be re-opened? With huge numbers of holidaymakers coming to Wales this summer there is an urgent need for this policy to be reversed."
Thankfully Anthony said he was seen, treated and discharged from Bronglais Hospital within an hour and his hand is now on the mend.
In response Ffion Johnstone, area director for the West of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, said: "We understand that the temporary closure of some of our minor injury units during the pandemic has resulted in some people travelling longer distances in some instances, and we apologise for this.
"Our minor injury units (MIUs) at Dolgellau and Tywyn Hospitals were temporarily closed as part of our plans to manage the response to Covid-19 in our communities.
"Due to challenges with staffing in the units on both sites they currently remain closed. We are looking at options to try and reinstate one of our minor injury units in South Meirionnydd in time for the summer holidays."
