MARLBOROUGH GP Dr Jonathan Glover has defended comments he made about the Clover Unit primary care centre in Swindon.

Dr Glover is one of the local doctors infuriated by the decision of the Wiltshire Primary Care Trust to close the minor injuries unit at Savernake Hospital, which took place at the end of September.

He had told the Gazette he believed the direction of patients, who would normally us the Savernake MIU, to the Clover Unit as irresponsible.

He said: "It is not a minor injuries unit and its staff are not qualified to treat minor injuries.

"Currently it does not employ any minor injuries staff, although it is poaching one from Savernake."

Following the publication of that article on the front page of the edition of September 27, Lyn Hill-Tout and Caroline Fowles, the chief executives of Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust and Swindon Primary Care Trust respectively, issued a joint statement complaining that the information was inaccurate and unhelpful.

The statement read: "The Clover Unit is a fully functioning primary care centre which is located next door to the Great Western Hospital's A&E department.

"Nursing staff within Clover are able to provide treatment for a range of minor injuries, including cuts, bruises and sprains, simple fractures and dislocations, burns and scalds, eye injuries, splinters in the skin, insect bites and stings.

"All the nurses in the Clover Unit are fully qualified and very experienced in treating minor injuries. There are three nurse practitioners and all have been trained specifically in dealing with minor injuries."

Dr Glover said he was not trying to belittle the staff at the Clover Unit or the services they offered, but they did not offer the service that had been available at Savernake's MIU.

He said: "The MIU at Savernake was the best in the county for the way it interacted with A&E. You couldn't have designed a better way of working if you had tried.

"According to our latest information, there are nurse practitioners at the Clover Unit but not emergency nurse practitioners.

"The Clover Unit is a primary care centre, not an MIU, and I don't believe they see enough minor injuries to generate the required quality of practice."