Hospital beds in Minehead close due to nurse shortage

Inpatients at Minehead Community Hospital will be moved to Williton

All inpatient beds at a community hospital are to be closed due to a shortage of nurses.

Ten beds at Minehead Community Hospital are to shut temporarily next week "on the grounds of patient safety".

Patients will be moved to Williton Community Hospital, which is about eight miles (13km) away.

Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust said a "deteriorating staffing situation" meant only half the required number of nurses were available.

The trust's chief operating officer Andy Heron said the trust had "worked hard" to recruit new nurses but had "exhausted all recruitment possibilities" and it continued "to suffer from a national shortage of registered nurses".

He said: "We cannot recruit enough permanent nurses to provide safe numbers of staff for each shift across both Minehead and Williton hospitals.

"We have therefore decided temporarily to consolidate inpatient beds into the one hospital for West Somerset."

In a letter sent to staff, which has been seen by the BBC Mr Heron said the decision was "regrettable".

He added the trust was hoping reopen Minehead's hospital beds "as soon as we can recruit more nurses but this is not likely to be for several months".

Minehead Community Hospital opened in 2011 at a cost of £23m.