A NORTHWICH councillor at the centre of a campaign to bring about better healthcare facilities has welcomed the news the town's Minor Injuries Unit (MIU) will open seven days a week.

Cllr Kate Cernik, a former NHS nurse practitioner, said the announcement about the unit at Victoria Infirmary extending its opening hours was 'a great boost' for the town.

The unit has been open Monday to Friday since March but is now extending its opening hours to include weekends from Saturday, January 9.

Cllr Cernik said: "Myself and other Northwich councillors welcome this news.

"The particular concern we had was that Northwich was left with no minor injuries services, particularly over weekends when there is no transport to Leighton Hospital.

"For example, there are no buses at all of a Sunday."

After meetings between councillors and NHS leaders to bring about the change during the autumn, Chief Executive James Sumner explained the situation was caused more by a lack of staff rather than a lack of funds.

"He was extremely helpful and pointed out the problem they had was entirely to do with immediate staffing issues and maintaining staff with Covid restrictions," Cllr Cernik said.

"He promised me that as soon as it was possible to extend services, he would be really keen to do that.

"In the future he wants to enhance, extend and development better services for people in the Northwich area.

In addition, the unit will be extending the operating hours of its x-ray service to include Saturdays and Sundays – the first time this service has been available in Northwich at weekends.

"The fact that the trust are going to open up x-ray facilities really does give me confidence that the trust is serious about their promises.

"It's a really positive move for the people of the town."

Weaver Vale MP Mike Amesbury also welcomed the news, saying: "This is very welcome news and it will be a huge boost and big relief to the people of Northwich.

"Working alongside local councillors this is something I've been urging local NHS leaders to deliver and I'm glad they've come to this decision.

"Huge credit to Cllr Kate Cernik and other local councillors for really driving this on behalf of their constituents and the wider Northwich community, truly great news."

The MIU is run by highly trained and experienced nurse practitioners who have undertaken specialist training and are able to assess, diagnose and treat patients of all ages.

It offers treatment and advice on illnesses and injuries that need attention urgently but are not critical or life threatening.

The new opening hours for the unit will be Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm and Saturday to Sunday, 9am to 1pm.

The enhanced GP out of hours service continues to run from 6.30pm to 10pm Monday to Friday, and 9am to 6pm at the weekend with the option of speaking to a GP remotely or a home visit from 6pm to 10pm on a Saturday and Sunday.