Fears that Wallingford’s first aid unit will be closed if more people do not use it have been voiced by the woman who fought hardest to get it opened.

Lynda Atkins, a member of Wallingford Town Council and the town’s county councillor, said: “We are near the cut-off point where the Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust will decide whether or not to keep the unit open.

“It will stay open only if people are using it. I know that several people have gone to Oxford or Reading hospitals because they did not know the first aid unit existed, despite all the notices that we have put up.

“I want to assure them that the service is here, right on their doorstep and that if anyone needs treatment for minor injuries, they should go to the medical centre. That way, we will know really how much it is needed. And at the moment, the figures are very low.

“I’m in constant touch with the PCT over this and I’m hoping to persuade them to keep it open. Although it treats, on average, only seven or eight people a day, it is important because otherwise they would have to travel into Oxford or Reading for treatment.

“We have always made it clear that the situation is a ‘use it or lose it’ one.

“It is an important facility in Wallingford and I would love to see it stay open.”

The unit at the health centre in Reading Road opened in February, replacing the Minor Injuries Unit, which closed 18 months earlier because it was not used enough.

The primary care trust has promised to keep it open until next February so a proper assessment of its usefulness over a whole year could be made.

The trust said it would close if too few people used it because the trust could not justify tying up staff for a little-used service.

The unit treats minor injuries, such as cuts and abrasions, scalds and head injuries if the person has not lost consciousness, but not strokes, severe chest pains or broken bones.

Ms Atkins said: “Short of tripping people up or bashing them over the head, I don’t think I can do much more than simply urge them to use the unit to its full capacity.

“It’s the sort of facility that few people think about until the time they cut themselves or injure themselves in some way, but then they realise it is so much better just to go somewhere in the town rather than having to trek into Oxford or Reading for the main hospitals.

“So the plea is for people to remember the unit is there and use it — it is important for Wallingford people and those in the surrounding villages to have this unit on their doorsteps.”

A spokesman for the primary care trust confirmed that the unit would stay open until February, when a decision on its future would be made.