MINEHEAD Community Hospital ward sister Hayley Welsh has been commended for setting up 'care in a chair'.

From the comfort of a specially designed chair, patients who need routine blood transfusions or intravenous therapy can have their treatment without the need to travel.

Hayley established the new 'ambulatory care service' on a ward at Minehead Hospital - and in its first four months of operation the service provided 64 treatments, with patient numbers steadily growing.

At this year's Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Staff Recognition Awards, trust chairman Linda Nash commended Hayley for her dedication to patients and congratulated her for contributing to the success of the scheme.

Ms Nash said: "People sometimes call ambulatory care services 'care in a chair'. It is appreciated by patients because it offers care closer to home.

"We know of just one patient using the local ambulatory service who has saved 28 visits to a district hospital, amounting to 1,512 travelling miles and over 56 hours within a car.

"This is a real success story for patients and one which Hayley and hospital staff can feel rightly proud."