HEALTH bosses say they are on track to have its new community care team in place by October 1 but have not yet revealed how many staff they need.

The Kennet and North Wiltshire Primary Care Trust plans to have a team of health professionals working round the clock to provide short-term intensive rehabilitation to people in their own homes or while they are in a care home before being discharged back home.

The plan is a key strand of the trust's plans to cut £10million over the next three years and modernise local health services.

The trust says that up to a third of patients in community hospitals do not need to be there and could be treated at home or while they stay in a care home on a short placement.

The new intermediate care team, which will cost £1.3million to set up, will comprise district nurses, nursing assistants, physiotherapists and occupational therapists.

They are due to start work on October 1 and at the same time 20 beds at Devizes Hospital will close along with nine beds at Malmesbury Hospital.

Members of the trust board pressed Phil Day, the trust's director of community services, for more details about the new intermediate care team.

Chairman Tim Boucher said: "There is concern among the public about our ability to recruit staff to the new team. How many staff do we need, is it more than a dozen or 30?"

Mr Day said: "It is more than 12 but not as much as 30. We have managed to recruit three key therapists and we shall be continuing to recruit through the next two months."

Mr Day told the board that he was unable to tell them how many staff the new team would comprise as redeployment talks are currently under way with existing hospital and other staff.

He said: "Redeployment talks are scheduled to continue over the next two weeks, after which we shall know how many vacancies we have."

Mr Day said the trust was working with Wiltshire County Council to ensure there will be enough places in care homes from October 1.

He said the council was providing short term financial support to establish arrangements with care homes and work was under way to secure places for future demand.