Weston General Hospital to receive £2.5m investment

The plan will involve recurring costs of £2.6m by 2025/26 but it is hoped this will be balanced out by a reduction in the need for agency nurses

A £2.5m investment to improve a hospital's services has been agreed.

The planned improvements at Weston General Hospital in Weston-super-Mare include additional units and some facilities extended to a seven-day service.

However, the hospital's A&E department will continue to only be open for 14 hours a day.

Bosses hope the investment will help the hospital treat people faster and reduce their length of stay by 10%.

Other improvements include the hospital's same-day emergency care expanded to a seven-day-a-week service, running from 8am to 10pm each day, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The geriatric emergency medicine service would also be extended to a seven-day service.

The plan will also see a new 14-bed older person's assessment unit and the existing monitoring unit turned into a 9-bed unit used by the acute team, and a 6-bed observation unit for the emergency department.

The hospital's accident and emergency department will not see any changes or improvements

Paula Clarke, executive managing director of University Hospitals Bristol and Weston Trust, which runs the hospital, said the board is "confident" the benefits will be "deliverable".

The plan will involve an investment of £2.5m this year, and recurring costs of £2.6m by 2025/26.

But it is hoped this will be balanced out by a reduction in the need for agency nurses which could save £3.3m.

Trust CEO Eugine Yafele praised the "steely determination" of staff at the hospital after their efforts led to the Care Quality Commission raising the hospital's rating from the lowest it can give to "requires improvement."

Speaking at a meeting on 6 April, non-executive board member for finance, estates, and digital, Steve West said: "I think this is transformational.

"The journey that we have been on, wearing different hats in different places for five years, is really getting to the heart of what Weston deserves."