Weston General Hospital’s A&E will not operate 24/7 over the Christmas period.

Weston Area Health NHS Trust (WAHT) says the ward will remain shut overnight between 10pm-8am.

The ‘temporary’ night-time closure of Weston’s A&E was introduced in July amid staff shortages jeopardising the safety of emergency care.

A WAHT spokesman said patients’ safety is its priority.

He added: “Our A&E department will not reopen overnight in the short term – and not before Christmas.

“Overnight services will remain closed until we are confident safe and sustainable staffing levels are in place throughout the night. While we’re making progress with recruiting the numbers of permanent doctors needed to safely run the service at night – and we continue to do all we can – it remains a challenge.

“There’s no planned date for reopening currently.”

Paramedics will instead take patients to Taunton or Bristol.