Dorset HealthCare recently switched its MIU services to provide telephone support and offer face-to-face appointments only where strictly necessary, to help reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Since then, they have been able to support the vast majority of people remotely without the need for on-site appointments.

To ensure they are able to continue offering this service to the people of Dorset, the MIUs in Blandford, Portland and Sherborne will no longer be able to see people on site from Monday (6 April).

Instead, staff from these units will help support the MIUs at Shaftesbury and Wimborne hospitals, as well as the Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) based at Weymouth Hospital. This will allow Dorset HealthCare to maintain a number of MIUs across the county, with Shaftesbury and Wimborne extending their opening hours, and to provide a more consistent and reliable service.

MIUs at Bridport and Swanage hospitals will continue running as normal under the current service, providing appointments by telephone only.

If you have an ailment or injury which requires urgent care, please call NHS 111 or 01305 762541 and you will be given advice or – if necessary – booked in for a face-to-face appointment at the appropriate site.

Alternatively, you can call your nearest MIU/UTC direct on:

• Bridport – 01308 426245
• Shaftesbury – 01747 851535
• Swanage – 01929 475 009
• Weymouth – 01305 762541
• Wimborne – 01202 856436.

Phone NHS 111 if you’re not sure what support you need, or call 999 for anything life threatening as normal.

Helen Persey, the Trust’s Acting Service Director for Integrated Community Services, said, “This is just a temporary change, but an essential one. It will help us manage the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, while still providing a spread of MIU services across the county.

“We are  grateful for all the  support shown to our staff and the NHS during this time.”

Full details of Dorset’s MIUs and Weymouth’s UTC, plus its Emergency Departments, are available at www.dorsethealthcare.nhs.uk/patients-and-visitors/miu-and-ae