West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin has urged people to make more use of their local community hospitals and GPs after serious delays occurred at Worcester’s main hospital. Health chiefs were forced to move staff from rural community hospitals to the Worcestershire Royal Hospital after the Accident and Emergency department was overloaded on New Year’s Day. The MP supported the decision to close the minor injuries units but warned that this is a difficult step to repeat if the situation re-occurs. Harriett commented: “The most important message to communicate is that you should only go to Accident and Emergency if you have a serious problem. Local community hospitals are able deal will all sorts of non-urgent conditions, and if you aren’t sure, you can speak to your own GP or ring 111. “Rural communities depend on their local community hospital and they need to play an increasing role helping to take the pressure off Worcestershire Royal. “Community hospitals are often more convenient to use and their minor injuries units usually have much shorter waiting times to get seen. We need to make more, not less, use of our precious community hospitals and I would not like to see this decision set a precedent for the future.”