TAVISTOCK Minor Injuries Unit is shut today due to staff shortages.

At Abbey Surgery on Plymouth Road, practice manager Darren Newland confirmed that patients needing treatment for minor mishaps were being directed to them.

He said: ‘The Minor Injuries Unit is closed every now and again because of staffing. Because of reorganisations and Covid they have pulled people back to Plymouth. When that happens they put us on alert and Tavyside.

‘The MUI is closed today but it will be open again tomorrow. It all depends on staffing. There is Covid going around, plus there is a horrible cold doing the rounds so people are off. It is not too bad today, we can cope, but we don’t want it to happen too often.’

Tavyside Heath Centre on Abbey Rise is also reporting an increase in enquiries for minor injuries by phone.

Tavyside practice manager Sarah Evans reported that most of the enquiries were being referred on to Derriford Hospital.

She said closures at the MIU in Tavistock, which is based at the hospital, had been ‘on and off’ for a while.

The practice was ‘extremely’ busy, but this was the norm she added.