FEARS that reduced bed numbers at Williton Community Hospital signalled the beginning of the end for the facility have subsided after a £250,000 investment.

NHS Somerset has provided the cash and has been working with Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which provides the services, staff and the hospital’s League of Friends on drawing up improvement plans.

Since the Brendon Ward and more than half the beds were lost last year, there was concern in the village and surrounding area that the hospital’s complete closure would follow.

But health officials have always maintained this was not the case and that the reduction of beds was simply a move to match demand rather than a cut in services.

Kevin Bye, treasurer of the League of Friends, said: “We found out about the plans earlier this summer and we are very reassured and pleased by the outcome of discussions.

“We are delighted that the trust has put its money where its mouth is. “There was a lot of nervousness when they closed one of the wards that the whole hospital would close, but the trust always said it would stay open.

“We are pleased they kept dialogue open with us and now we can breathe a sigh of relief with tangible confirmation of what they have been saying all along.

“We pledge to continue to help in any way we can and will continue talking to and working with the trust.”

The contract is out to tender, and some work is expected to start ahead of Christmas before it begins in earnest in the first week of January, with a completion date of March 31.

It will include reinstating ‘Grace’s Room’ for loved ones of the terminally ill, improving bathrooms and toilets, relocating inpatient beds to the Brendon Ward, enhancing rehabilitation facilities, and establishing an ambulatory care bay, where patients can be treated in a chair rather than bed where appropriate.

The hospital won’t close while the work is carried out and the focus will be on keeping disruption to patients to a minimum.

Judith Brown, the trust’s director of community services, said: “We are delighted that we have been able to work with NHS Somerset, staff and the League of Friends to develop these proposals.

“They reflect our commitment to deliver modern day communitybased healthcare for the people of Williton and beyond.”