Local NHS bosses gave a commitment to fix the 'IT issues' that have prevented some patients from getting anappointment at the Felixstowe Minor Injuries Unit, following Therese's public meeting on Saturday. The meeting enabled patients to put their questions to NHS top brass, including the Chief Officer of the Ipswich and East Suffolk CCG, Ed Garratt.
When the MIU moved to an appointment-based unit back in April, I was assured that patients could still access same-day treatment by calling NHS 111 or via their GP surgeries. However, this hasn't been consistently happening due to a problem with the IT system accessing patients records, meaning the NHS 111 service cannot send through appointments to Felixstowe. Having IT problems is unsatisfactory but they are working on it. The number of people referred to the MIU also doubled in May, higher than the NHS had predicted.
The CCG also recognise that Felixstowe has a higher than average population of elderly people, so are developing plans for a new outreach and drop-in frailty clinic to help prevent avoidable admissions to hospitals.
Therese said: "Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting, I encourage patients to continue to share their experiences with the NHS as that is how they will learn and improve their referral process. I welcome the commitment from the CCG to fix the issues and to continue having conversations with residents about how to improve services in Felixstowe."