'Not good enough' is the verdict of Dawlish town councillor Rosalind Prowse to the continuing absence of a Minor Injuries Unit at the community hospital.

The MIU has been closed since mid-March in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, with the Torbay and South Devon NHS Trust explaining that there were difficulties in staffing the unit, and advising patients to go to the Newton Abbot unit instead.

But the Trust cannot say when Dawlish's MIU might open again, leading to concerns that the town might never get the facility back.

In a statement to Dawlish Nub News, a spokesman for the Trust said: "We are currently in discussion to agree new ways to ensure the delivery of more local community urgent care."

Cllr Prowse, who fought to secure a MIU for Dawlish, said: "We keep being told there's not enough staff, and the other excuse I heard was there's no X-ray machine there – the machine was old, and got broken.

"We are told the money for a new machine is there in the budget this year so where is it, why hasn't it arrived?

"This is not good enough. We needed the MIU in the summer holidays and we need it now.

"I'm really disappointed to think that after all the hard work I and other councillors put into getting a Minor Injuries Unit and to get the hours extended so that it was covered at the weekends, to now find we have no MIU and we will be very lucky to get it back in spring.

"The greatest fear of all of us that they will never open it again."

What the NHS Trust says

The full statement from the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust said: "We had introduced a temporary reduction in opening times in July 2019 at Dawlish Minor Injuries Unit (MIU) at the start and end of the day to ensure patients could still access them during their busiest times.

"This reduction was primarily due to staffing issues which is compounded by a national shortage of specialist advanced nurse/paramedic practitioners and radiographers that is affecting our ability to recruit sufficient highly skilled staff needed to provide full urgent care services at our minor injury units.

"Dawlish MIU reduced to 9am to 6pm (seven days a week) from the 8am to 8pm opening hours. Newton Abbot Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) remains open from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week, with an X-ray service from 9am to 5pm seven days a week.

"The COVID-19 pandemic introduced additional challenges for the Trust: We have had to ensure social distancing is in place, which has reduced the capacity of waiting areas and clinical environments and we have carried out enhanced infection control measures to keep people safe.

"To ensure we could continue to provide a safe and resilient minor injuries service for our whole population through the pandemic, in collaboration with Devon Clinical Commissioning Group, a decision was made to temporarily close Dawlish MIU on 19th March.

"We are currently in discussion to agree new ways to ensure the delivery of more local community urgent care."