PLANS to re-open inpatient beds at Wellington Community Hospital later this month have been delayed due to ‘continued challenges in staffing vacancies’.

Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust says: “The latest review of nursing staffing levels across all community hospitals shows recent changes in staffing which mean that the inpatient ward at Wellington Community Hospital cannot safely re-open as planned.”

Andy Heron, chief operating officer at Somerset Partnership, said: “This has been a difficult decision but given that our staffing position remains challenged, one made in the best interests of patient safety.

“I realise this is disappointing news for the local community but after recent staff changes, re-opening the ward as we had planned would bring our overall nurse vacancies rate close to 20 per cent within our community hospitals. We cannot deliver care safely carrying this overall level of vacancies.

“We continue to advertise and interview new nurses, and we monitor our recruitment progress on a weekly basis.”

Wellington town and Somerset county councillor Andrew Govier said: “It is very disappointing news that the hospital won’t be re-opening as soon as we hoped. I know that Somerset Partnership has worked hard to recruit enough staff to safely re-open but shortages across the wider health community have not made this possible.

“I have spoken to senior officers at the Partnership and they have made it clear they are monitoring the situation very closely and as soon as staff become available they hope the hospital can re-open.”

For the full story, see this week’s Wellington Weekly News.