MILLIONS of pounds need to be saved at Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital this financial year, the Taunton & Somerset Trust has said.

Despite the hospital breaking even last year, senior nursing staff have been told £6.5million must be saved to meet the "significant challenges" ahead of them in 2006-07.

A number of innovatives are being planned, aimed at improving patient experience and making the hospital more efficient.

These include reducing the average length of stay for in-patients by getting them in when needed and not before and sending them home on time.

But the hospital has been quick to deny claims from one hospital nurse, who wished to remain anonymous, that a meeting was held on Monday where staff were told that a surgical ward, a medical ward and six beds have to go as part of the proposals.

The hospital's spokesman Mark Wall said: "There was not a meeting held on Monday.

"I can categorically say that nothing has changed since a meeting we had last Thursday, when the savings were announced."

If the proposed stay reductions are successful the hospital will be able to remove the beds no longer needed, which in turn could lead to a ward being used for something else.

Mr Wall added: "This improvement in the average length of stay will allow us to better manage emergency demand.

"At the same time, as circumstances allow and beds empty we expect to be able to take beds out of the hospital.

"We'll only take beds out of the system as improvements in length of stay are achieved so our ability to treat patients isn't affected.

"The most likely scenario were this to happen would be that we would use a ward to provide a surgical admissions unit or a similar patient service that we do not have room for at the moment.

"So the ward might not be a ward as it is now, but it would still be used for providing patient care."

Mr Wall also said it was not expected that the changes would result in any job losses.