West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin has this week thanked the League of Friends following the arrival of a new ultrasound machine at Tenbury’s community hospital. The new machine is now in operation and Harriett met with hospital Matron Joanne Whitehouse and League of Friends chairman Stephen Thomas to promote use of the hospital for more procedures – including scanning. The MP was also eager to remind people of the valuable Minor Injuries Unit at the Tenbury hospital. The Worcestershire NHS Health and Care Trust has been publicising alternatives to A&E including the unit at the community hospital open for minor ailments between 9am and 9pm every day. This can often give an instant response rather than facing long queues at Hereford or Worcester’s Accident and Emergency department Harriett said: “Tenbury residents are rightly proud of their community hospital and the League of Friends has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds over the years to help offer the widest range of services. “It was great to hear that the new ultrasound is now in full operation and I hope that it gets well used in the coming years helping people to get scans closer to their homes. “I regularly ask our local health service managers to use our highly valued community hospitals more and it was very useful to hear the feedback both from the new local matron and the League of Friends. “I’m also eager to repeat the message that community hospitals can be used to deal with minor injuries and ailments and patients can avoid lengthy waits by travelling to their local hospital rather than to an Accident and Emergency department.”