OPENING times at Cirencester Hospital’s minor injuries unit may be forced to change as the county’s NHS deals with a £600,000 funding gap.

Health bosses are considering radical changes in Cirencester after new figures revealed the unit had to close 46 times overnight in six months due to staff shortages.

The news comes after all doctors were pulled off the unit and replaced by specialist nurses in September.

New rules brought in by the Care Quality Commission now mean that two qualified staff members have to be on the unit every night, but the hospital is struggling to keep up with the extra staffing demand and has been forced to shut its doors at night.

The Stroud unit has had to close 67 times overnight in the past six months.

The other units in the north Cotswolds, Tewkesbury, Vale of Stroud and the Forest of Dean are not 24-hour.

Across Gloucestershire, the new rules have forced the NHS to employ 30 per cent more staff, and the minor injury units are together posting a £600,000 funding gap.

NHS Gloucestershire is now considering the future of the unit, amid fears it could be closed overnight altogether.

Papers from its last board meeting revealed the impact of the temporary closures on the units in Stroud and Cirencester was minimal because “there are fewer than two attendances per night in both our overnight units combined”.

They added that 90 per cent of the patients were either well enough to wait and see a GP, or so ill they needed an A&E department.

However, a former employee said the unit could sometimes be busy "from 9.30pm to 5am”.

Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard: Cirencester Hospital "open for business as usual" despite reports of winter NHS crisis

Candace Plouffe, chief operating officer at Gloucestershire NHS, said they were “committed to providing safe and high quality services” while delivering value for money.

“The number of people using Minor Injuries and Illness Units (MIIUs) late at night is extremely low. Clinical staff who could be, and want to be, seeing patients during busy times, are currently required to work a night shift with minimal activity,” she said.

“This is not an attractive offer to experienced nurses and as a result our MIIUs are struggling to recruit to their full establishment. This is compounded by the national nursing shortage and a competitive job market.

“The Care Quality Commission made it clear to the trust last September that a minimum of two qualified staff are required at all times to ensure delivery of safe services, so our options are limited with regard to adjusting staffing levels to match demand.

“The overall picture that emerges is one of an overnight service which is accessed very infrequently, difficult to recruit to, subject to closure at short notice and not cost effective.”

She added that the issues had been raised with the Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee and they would be exploring all options before a full consultation.

Reg Beagley was a porter at the minor injuries unit for seven years and is now chair of Unite's Gloucester Area Health Sector Branch.

He said: “I can understand the problems trying to plan for a service that is interminable, but I think it’d be sad if Stroud and Cirencester units were to be changed.

"On some nights there may only be two or three patients but sometimes it’s busy from 9.30pm to 5am – you just can’t tell who’s going to come through the door."

He added there was concern that porters may be cut entirely from the minor injuries wards in the coming months.