MUSGROVE Park Hospital’s physiotherapy outpatients’ service will

temporarily move out of town from September in a bid to help avoid a repeat of last winter’s crisis due to record numbers.

Health chiefs decided on the move to Dene Barton Community Hospital, Cotford St Luke, following Musgrove’s busiest ever winter, with unprecedented numbers attending its emergency department needing urgent medical care.

It will create more space at Musgrove for temporary beds to help cope with possible peaks in patient demand.

The inpatient beds at Dene Barton, which is run by Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, have been temporarily closed since autumn 2017 due to staff shortages.