CARING for the elderly, especially as the winter months draw closer, should be top of anyone’s agenda.

The opening of a new emergency multidisciplinary unit at Witney Community Hospital in October can only help older patients to get the help they need faster, without putting extra pressure on the accident and emergency departments of the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and The Horton Hospital in Banbury.

It will give patients the chance to stay closer to home, without a long trek to Oxford or Banbury, and potentially not have to stay overnight.

And staff will be able to treat most serious medical emergencies, except heart attacks or strokes.

While the unit is not solely intended for the use of the elderly, they are the key group it is intended to help.

If the example of a pilot project at Abingdon Community Hospital is anything to go by, then there is no reason to think this plan will not be a huge success for the residents of Witney and the rest of the district.

Anyone who has ever had to go to hospital will know how complicated it can be and people are often unsure which service they actually need.

As long as patients clearly understand the role of the service – described as a “halfway house” between a GP’s surgery and A&E – then the knowledge that help is a lot closer to home will be good news for most and should help to ease the heavy burden shouldered by accident and emergency units, so they can focus their resources on the most serious cases that come through their doors.