The looming permanent closure of Altrincham General Hospital’s minor injuries unit has sparked furious condemnation across the political spectrum.

Connor Rand, Labour’s new MP for Altrincham and Sale, said he was ‘deeply disappointed’ at the move, while Liberal Democrat group leader on Trafford Council Cllr Shaun Ennis expressed his anger, calling it ‘unacceptable’.

The borough’s Conservative opposition group leader Cllr Nathan Evans has also weighed in, slamming the move. 

The unit has been closed since the pandemic lockdown in 2020, apart from one month in July 2021.

Fears had been voiced by councillors in Trafford that the unit, they say see as essential to residents in the south of the borough, would never reopen.

Those concerns now look about to be realised following a recommendation in an urgent care review undertaken by NHS Greater Manchester that it should close for good.

The review, delivered at the Trafford Locality Board’s meeting on August 20, says that minor injuries and medical staff should be permanently relocated to Wythenshawe Hospital.

The review states: “NHS England guidance makes it clear that stand-alone minor injury units should not be commissioned in an attempt to reduce the often-confusing mix of urgent care services.

“Our comprehensive needs assessment also identified that Trafford has relatively fewer areas of transport-related social exclusions with Altrincham not being an area for concern due to its high rates of car ownership and access to good public transport links.”

The final decision on the recommendations will be made by the NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board at its meeting on September 18.

Mr Rand said: “I’m deeply disappointed by the recommendation of the Trafford Locality Board to permanently close the unit at Altrincham Hospital as part of its Urgent Care Review.

“Ultimately, the reason we are in this situation is because of 14 years of the Conservatives not giving the National Health Service the staff or funding it needs. 

“It was a shortage of nurses that first shut the minor injuries unit and its uncertain future cannot be separated from the toxic legacy of Tory government that has led to local bodies having to make difficult decisions. 

“The unit was a service people in Altrincham and Sale West relied on and appreciated. I’ll be writing to the Integrated Care Board to urge them to reconsider the downgrading of services at Altrincham Hospital and will raise this case in Parliament.”

Meanwhile, Cllr Ennis has expressed his anger. He said: “The loss of urgent care provision for Altrincham and the South Trafford area is completely unacceptable. The Liberal Democrats strongly oppose the recommendation to make patients travel outside Trafford.

“We cannot accept the recommendations of this review. The loss of urgent care in our community would be devastating, particularly for the most in need.  

“This decision is based on lazy and short-sighted assumptions about Altrincham, Timperley and Hale Barns.”

Responding to comments in the review that the minor injuries unit only ‘served a small proportion’ of Trafford residents, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Cllr Will Frass added: “Trafford’s ruling Labour group have earmarked Timperley Wedge for the development of thousands of new houses without a single thought for the strain on local health services.

“When all those new houses are built, the demand on existing local health services will be unbearable.”

Cllr Evans said the Conservatives had mounted a year-long campaign to save the unit and had raised a 1,300-name petition.

He went on:  “I am astounded that despite the Integrated Care Board’s review into the future of Altrincham minor injuries unit being due to complete in ‘early’ 2024, the ICB has chosen to announce the death knell of our hospital only weeks after the General Election.

“The timing is interesting to say the least. The Labour Party refused to back my motion in Trafford Council calling for the minor injuries unit’s reopening.

“Their General Election candidate dismissed that call as ‘a local campaign’, and refused to back it. Call me cynical, but Mr Rand’s apparent conversion to the cause of our hospital is something to behold.”

Responding to the outcry, Mark Fisher, chief executive of NHS Greater Manchester, said: “We have been working very closely with Trafford residents, councillors and health and care partners on a comprehensive review of urgent and emergency services in our borough and we thank all those who took the time to give us their thoughts on urgent care services available to them. 

“It was very clear that, although residents and patients generally have access to good services in the borough, there are changes we could adopt to make them easier to access, which we would look to deliver in line with our wider local plans. 

“During the next 12 months, we will investigate the possibility of bringing ‘out-of-hours’ (outside 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday) GP care into, or closer to, Trafford, as well as improved methods of communication with patients to help to direct them to the right services. 

“There is also a proposal for the permanent closure of the minor injuries unit service based in two rooms at Altrincham Hospital, with the continued relocation of services and staff to Wythenshawe Hospital, approximately three miles away. All other services currently being provided at Altrincham Hospital would continue and other options for the use of these two rooms will now be considered.”