THE minor injuries unit at Dovercourt’s Fryatt Hospital must NOT be closed.

Health bosses at the North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group have proposed shutting the unit as part of their consultation on the future of the minor injuries service across north Essex.

The Harwich community has spoken with one voice to say that the town’s vital unit must be spared from the axe.

Patients, residents, GPs, councillors and the town’s MP all strongly oppose the plan, which could see patients forced to travel to Clacton or Colchester.

The Standard backs their demands for the unit to remain open.

Harwich and Manningtree Standard:

Health chiefs, when making their decision in May, can be in no doubt about the strength of feeling in the town and must act accordingly if they do not want their consultation to be labelled anything other than a meaningless box-ticking exercise.

The geographical location of the Harwich peninsula, along with high levels of unemployment, child poverty and lack of access to transport, make it vital that the facility remains.

The closure of the unit would stretch Harwich’s overworked GP surgeries even further and see even more patients pile into Colchester Hospital’s struggling A&E department.

Our unit must not be closed.