THE 11-bed inpatient ward at Wellington’s cottage hospital in Bulford Lane, which has been closed for nearly a year, may re-open in September – if a ward sister can be recruited.

The ward was set to re-open last September following essential maintenance work to replace corroded water pipes.

But it has remained closed due to a shortage of registered nurses and demand for a new stroke rehabilitation unit to serve Somerset.

Lucy Nicholls, patient and public involvement manager with Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, has emailed Wellington councillors to say: “The inpatient wards at Wellington and Chard Community hospitals remain temporarily closed and these closures will remain in place.

“However, we plan to re-open the Wellington beds in September, following what we hope will be the successful recruitment of a ward sister. This leadership role is crucial to the running of the unit but we believe we will have this role recruited to and in post by September.

“It is important to note that staffing in our community hospitals remains very challenging and this situation can change if just a small number of staff resign.

“But we believe that by consolidating our staff and continuing to develop ways of supporting patients in their home, we can run a safe service through the summer months and still meet the need for community hospital beds.”

However, county and town councillor John Thorne is not convinced the hospital will be re-opening later this year.

He said: ”While it is welcome news that they plan to re-open the hospital beds in September, I will remain sceptical until it actually happens.

“We have already twice been promised a re-opening only to be disappointed.

“There is still the big issue of recruiting the necessary staff which may not be achieved in the timeframe they have set. If they cannot do that then we could be disappointed again.

“Wellington I believe is the sixth largest town in Somerset and we are still growing fast.

“We desperately need facilities like hospital beds, dentists, GP surgeries, and a host of others, to match the demands of our growing community.

“Unfortunately, however, we seem too often to be lagging behind which I attribute to a poor district council planning department which has let down Wellington over the past several years.

“I know other community hospitals are facing similar issues but that is no excuse for keeping Wellington closed.”

Andrew Govier, who is on the county, district and town councils, is more hopeful.

He added: “The re-opening is potentially very good news because the hospital is a really great asset for the town. I will continue to work closely with the League of Friends to hopefully get it re-opened.”