SIX stroke beds at Williton Community Hospital which were closed last December are to temporarily re-open on Monday to meet an increased need for stroke patients to have rehabilitation in a community hospital.

The move will take the number of dedicated stroke beds at the hospital back up to 12, and it was welcomed by people who fought bitterly to retain the beds.

But they said the demand was not going to go away and the move should be permanent.

The re-opening was also welcomed by Musgrove Park Hospital, where a spokesman said they had been seeing a higher than usual number of stroke patients, and the additional beds would mean they could safely discharge more patients back into the community for rehabilitation.

Due to a shortage of nurses across Somerset, staff for the six stroke beds will be temporarily moved to Williton from Dene Barton Community Hospital in Cotford St Luke, where Luke Ward will be temporarily closed.

“It has become clear there is a pressing clinical need for more stroke beds in the community,” said Andy Heron, chief operating officer of Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Williton Community Hospital.

“In recent months more people in Somerset have been suffering strokes. Once a stroke has been stabilised, diagnosed and treated in a district general hospital, many need a programme of rehabilitation at home or in a community hospital as part of their recovery.

“To help care for this rise in stroke patients, we have agreed to re-open six of Williton’s stroke beds.

“This will help speed up discharge for those patients well enough to leave a district general hospital but still needing hospital care and rehabilitation.”

He said that to staff the new beds safely, nurses were needed quickly. As Dene Barton was part of the West Somerset cluster of hospitals and had the smallest hospital ward in the area, the decision to close it and use those nurses meant fewer patients and carers would be affected.

The move also means that four additional rehabilitation beds - not for stroke patients - have been opened at Minehead Community Hospital which, once the closed Dene Barton beds are taken into account, gives an overall gain of two hospital beds for West Somerset.