Health chiefs have shut half of the 24 beds on Savernake Hospital’s only in-patient ward, blaming low morale among nursing staff.

NHS Wiltshire said the reduction in beds to 12 on the Ailesbury Unit would be for three months only while it carries out an intensive recruitment campaign to attract more nurses.

It claims morale continued to be low among nurses at the Marlborough hospital following last year’s judicial review when hospital campaigner Val Compton tried unsuccessfully to get the High Court to overturn a decision by the trust to close the minor injuries unit and day hospital at Savernake.

One insider at Savernake said it would be very difficult to attract nurses to work at the hospital because of concern over the long-term future of the hospital following the closure of the MIU and day hospital.

Ailesbury ward looks after elderly patients either giving their families respite or after they have left Swindon’s Great Western Hospital and need intermediate care until they are well enough to go home.

The member of staff said: “Of course morale is low here because we are permanently kept in the dark about what’s happening. Take the cut in beds as an example; I only heard about it through the union. Nobody from management has actually been to discuss it with us.”

Devizes MP Claire Perry has reservations about the health trust’s intentions.

Mrs Perry said: “I have had a meeting with the NHS Wiltshire chief executive Jeff James and he categorically told me this was a temporary measure and that they are very committed to getting all the beds open within three months.”

But she said that in view of the way the health trust had shut the MIU and day hospital at Savernake she had concerns over its real intentions for the Ailesbury unit. She added: “I am desperately suspicious over anything like this.

“I recall that at Devizes Hospital they had a temporary closure which turned into a permanent closure.”

A trust spokesman said: “NHS Wiltshire will be temporarily reducing the number of beds at Savernake Hospital to ensure that high standards of patient care can be maintained while we recruit additional staff.

“There are a number of vacant posts on the ward and, despite five recruitment campaigns in the last month, we have not been able to find staff to work there.

“This means that we have had to rely on a high number of agency nurses which means that continuity of patient care can be difficult, and the permanent nurses and health care assistants are under more pressure.

“Wiltshire Community Health Service’s director of nursing, Ann Kennedy, has reviewed the situation and decided that we need to temporarily reduce the number of beds from 24 to 12 for three months, on patient safety grounds.”

The director of nursing said: “Our staff have undergone long periods of uncertainty due to last summer’s judicial review and we recognise that morale is very low. We will be providing motivational training and lots of support to ensure they are re-energised and able to carry out their work with renewed enthusiasm, so that they can provide the best possible care for their patients.”