ON Sunday May 22, my husband, who had recently undergone a major operation, was suffering a lot of discomfort and we were both very concerned.

I took him to Okehampton Community Hospital MIU and we received immediate help from both the doctor and the nurse. If the MIU had not been available to us — and as we both felt that he needed to be seen by a medical practitioner ASAP — I would probably have taken him to Royal Devon and Exeter A&E, which, as recently publicised, cannot cope with the demands already being made on it. 

Fifteen months ago, we had to call 999 for a serious emergency. The medic who came and the doctor who spoke to me on the phone were wonderful, but it was obvious that the service was terribly stretched over a very wide area.

Following the visit to MIU on the Sunday, I had to drive to either Exeter or Launceston to collect a prescription, which I was happy to do, but there are many people – older than ourselves – or, for whatever reason, without transport — who would feel isolated and concerned in such a situation.

I know that it is planned to continue with the MIU service for 12 months, from Monday to Friday in office hours, but surely this misses the point entirely that a community such as Okehampton and its surrounding villages needs an out-of-hours service on its doorstep. 

Beryl Holley

Okehampton