Weston General Hospital takeover agreed

Weston's General Hospital is run by Weston Area Health NHS Trust

A hospital in financial difficulty is expected to be taken over by a neighbouring foundation trust.

Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust will proceed to the next stage as a partner for the trust running Weston General Hospital in Weston-super-Mare.

Despite two other trusts submitting formal expressions of interest, there were no other bids to take over Weston NHS Trust.

Weston General has been running at an annual loss of £5m for several years.

The NHS Trust Development Authority will assist Somerset and Weston NHS Trusts with contract negotiations, with this phase expected to be completed in the spring.

Nick Wood, chief executive of Weston NHS Trust, said he was pleased to have identified a partner "who we can work with to secure the future".

The NHS Trust Development Authority said Weston NHS Trust had taken "significant steps" to improve the quality of care it provided to patients, but it was "unsustainable in its current form".

It is expected that following successful contract negotiations, the partnership process will be complete by next summer.