Weston General Hospital to introduce changes to improve services

Local residents are being consulted over the proposed plans

Hospital bosses have said proposed changes will allow them to treat more patients closer to home.

An eight-week public engagement exercise will start later this month at Weston General Hospital, with more planned surgeries carried out on site.

The changes will also see patients who need to stay for more than 24 hours for some specialties transferred to other sites.

Bosses said it was an opportunity to secure a "bright future".

Medical director at Weston General Hospital, Dr Andrew Hollowood, said: "By changing how we treat people needing an emergency inpatient stay of longer than 24 hours, we can create the capacity to provide more of the services local people need and use most often.

"This includes undertaking thousands more additional planned procedures locally in Weston each year."

The proposed plans will be be introduced as part of the "Healthy Weston" programme and have been developed by senior doctors, nurses, health and care staff with input from the public and patients.

People arriving at Weston General by ambulance will no longer be treated at the hospital for any more than 24 hours unless they are "older" patients

As well as preserving the current 14 hours a day, 7 days a week A&E service, two on-site "centres of excellence" would be created for surgery and older people's care.

An expanded range of same day emergency care services would allow more people to be assessed and treated at the hospital without the need to be admitted to a ward, hospital bosses said.

People arriving at the hospital by ambulance - "other than older people" - will receive their initial assessment and treatment at Weston General Hospital.

But if they require a stay longer than 24 hours, for specialties such as gastroenterology, respiratory or cardiology, they will be transferred to a neighbouring hospital for care, which bosses said would result in "shorter stays and better outcomes" for patients.

The NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) approved the proposed plans on Tuesday.

Chair of Healthwatch Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, Georgie Bigg, said: "We look forward to working with health partners to ensure that local peoples' views continue to be gathered and reflected in the developing proposals.

"We will be encouraging everyone to take the opportunity to consider the plans and share their feedback."

The public engagement will run from 20 June to 14 August to test and refine the proposal, followed by a roll out later in the year.