PATIENTS in Warminster suffered a new blow this week when the hospital's minor injury unit cut its opening hours.

A nursing shortage meant the unit could only open from 9am to 5pm between Christmas Day and January 3 and it was hit with the same problem on Monday.

West Wiltshire Primary Care Trust says the reduction in hours is only temporary and is appealing for qualified nurses to get in touch.

The Warminster unit normally opens from 8am to 9.30pm but will now close at 6.30pm until further notice.

Unit manager Elaine Leeder said: "There is a general shortage of nursing staff across west Wiltshire but particularly in Warminster.

"The trust is trying hard to make the best use of the staff it has, but nurses who work in the minor injury unit need to have special training and we have not been able to find anyone to fill in for staff sickness and vacancies.

"We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and advise patients to use the neighbouring units at either Trowbridge Hospital, which has 24-hour opening, or at Melksham Hospital which is open from 8am to 9.30pm.

"We would urge patients not to turn up at Warminster MIU outside the hours of 8am to 6.30pm. The nurses manning the ward are not able to deal with minor injuries. We will restore the usual opening hours once we have the staff."

Acting director of services Sandy Major said: "We have nursing vacancies across the trust in minor injury units, inpatient wards, in the school nursing and health visiting teams and in maternity. We have placed numerous adverts in both the local and trade press and are using the newly launched NHS recruitment website."