MINEHEAD Hospital's minor injuries unit will be closed overnight - possibly until August - after health chiefs admitted a shortage of trained staff had forced them to cut opening hours.

The unit is led by emergency nurse practitioners - specialists trained in advanced nursing skills able to independently assess, diagnose, investigate and treat a wide range of injuries.

But with vacancies for the highly qualified practitioners across Somerset remaining unfilled, the Somerset Partnership and Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group confirmed this week that it had agreed to temporarily reduce opening hours at Minehead - which it says treats an average of one or two patients a night.

Since Wednesday, the unit has been shutting its doors at 11pm and not reopening until 7am the following morning.

But with no doctor based in the area overnight and an already overstretched ambulance service, the decision has been heavily criticised.

Minehead GP Dr Hugh Thomas said the first he knew of the cut in hours was when he started a ward duty at the hospital on Wednesday afternoon.

He said he was "disappointed" not to have been informed officially because the decision would impact on his patients.

But he said he was also very concerned for the local community because people would now have to travel long distances for treatment.

"Clearly any minor injury that could have gone to Minehead will now have to go to Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton," he said.

"That's at least a 40 minute journey from Minehead. The ambulance service already struggles to achieve its target response time in rural areas like ours."

Dr Thomas said the closure would also have a knock-on effect on staffing levels in the rest of the hospital.

The emergency nurse practitioner on duty overnight in the minor injuries unit has counted as one of the two trained staff required to cover the hospital.

"If this is a recruitment problem, then it is understandable, but I do think any reduction in opening hours of minor injury units could have happened in other parts of the county rather than West Somerset, where people are a long way from Musgrove."

Dr Thomas said the timing of the closure was also unfortunate, with the summer season looming when the population of Minehead would increase significantly, particularly with the number of people staying at the Butlins complex in the town.

"This is just yet another worrying reduction of our services locally," he said.

"Many more people will be travelling to Musgrove, where the A&E department will have to deal with a lot more patients.

"And many more people could be calling on the ambulance service as well.

"I am disappointed that there has been no consultation with the community over this."

Cllr Mandy Chilcott, who represents the Minehead Central ward on West Somerset Council and has long campaigned for the return of locally-based overnight doctor cover in the district, said she had grave concerns about the closure.

"This news is only just beginning to filter out but I think people will be very upset by it," she said.

"Yet again the very rural area of West Somerset is suffering - it's devastating.

"I am extremely worried for the most vulnerable people in our community - the elderly and young children.

"We have a very high population of elderly people - many without transport or a support network of family.

"We are so far from the next nearest hospital, it is just ridiculous.

"The time it takes for people from West Somerset to get to Musgrove could be critical.

"I don't understand why the cuts have to be made in the most remote area of the county. It feels like the slippery slope - we used to have a casualty department then it became a minor injuries unit, we used to have doctors based in the area overnight, now we just have roving doctors who could be anywhere from Bridgwater to Crewkerne.

"And now we have less opening hours in the minor injuries unit - my fear is that once it has been closed overnight for a while, it will be all too easy to keep it closed."

In a statement, the Somerset Partnership and Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group said the minor injury and illness service currently had a number of vacancies for emergency nurse practitioners and the reduction in opening hours at Minehead had been agreed to allow time to recruit more staff.

"We plan to resume opening hours when we have recruited extra staff, by August 2014, but earlier if successful candidates are available sooner," the statement said.

The unit will not accept patients after 10.30pm and anyone needing treatment outside of opening hours is being advised to call 111 to be directed to the nearest appropriate service.