A PROPOSAL to bring back a minor injury unit to a Wye Valley hospital is to be debated this week.

Ross-on-Wye Community Hospital is just 10 miles along the dual carriageway from Monmouth, and nearly 10 miles nearer than the MIU at Abergavenny’s Nevill Hall Hospital.

Herefordshire county councillor Ed O’Driscoll said that he has submitted a motion on behalf of the Liberal Democrats Group calling for the reinstatement of minor injury units across Herefordshire, especially at the community hospital in Ross.

Cllr O’Driscoll said that Hereford County Hospital, which has a bigger A&E department, is at breaking point, and between November 2024 and February 2025, one in four ambulances waited over an hour just to hand over patients to doctors there.

“That’s unacceptable,” he said. “Minor injury units in our market towns worked brilliantly in the past offering fast, local care for minor injuries and taking pressure off accident and emergency.

“Neighbouring counties still have them in Gloucestershire (such as Cinderford in the Forest of Dean), Powys, Shropshire, Worcestershire… so why not Herefordshire? We need urgent action to fix our local healthcare system.

“When the minor injury units were closed, more than 1,500 people in Ross signed a petition demanding their return. Public support for this is huge.”

A spokesman for the Wye Valley NHS trust said that it’s too early for it to comment in detail at this stage and added: “We are aware of the motion and await the outcome.”

The motion will be debated at the full council meeting of the Herefordshire authority tomorrow (Friday, March 7).