Same day urgent care in West Somerset

Healthwatch Somerset undertook research on same day urgent care services in West Somerset following the permanent overnight closure of the Minor Injuries Unit at Minehead. The project explored people’s awareness of urgent care services, their experiences of accessing care, and what improvements they would like to see. Healthwatch engaged with 291 people through 210 survey responses, comments from 76 people at community groups, and interviews with five care homes. 

The research found that many people were unclear about which services offered same day urgent care and that 59% of respondents had not seen any recent information about available services. Experiences of care were mixed. Feedback about the Minehead Minor Injuries Unit was largely positive, with people praising staff, short waiting times and the quality of treatment. However, people reported difficulties accessing GP appointments, mixed experiences of NHS 111 and ambulance response times, and long waits in A&E departments. 

Transport emerged as a major barrier to accessing urgent care. People highlighted limited public transport, long journey times to hospitals, lack of evening services and difficulties using community transport for urgent appointments. Many felt that urgent care for minor illness and injury should be provided as close to home as possible, while concerns were also raised that some people were resorting to using 999 or A&E because other services were difficult to access. 

Healthwatch recommended increasing public information about urgent care services, improving awareness of the support already available, exploring ways to provide more local access to urgent care, making better use of community transport, improving public transport links to hospitals and providing more support to help people manage minor conditions at home.