Minor Injuries Units

If you have an illness or injury that is not life threatening, contact your GP surgery first if possible. You can still call your GP outside normal surgery hours, but you will usually be directed to an out-of-hours service. The out-of-hours period is 6.30pm to 8am on weekdays, and all day at weekends and bank holidays.

You can also call NHS Direct on 0845 4647 (or NHS 111 if it's available in your area). They can give you advice or direct you to the best local service to treat your injury.

If your injury is not serious, you can get help from a minor injuries unit (MIU), rather than going to an A&E department. This will allow A&E staff to concentrate on people with serious, life-threatening conditions and will save you a potentially long wait.

At Dorset HealthCare, we have many locations across Dorset where you can access one of our Minor Injuries Units.