The 18-month reconfiguration will see the creation of a Centre of Excellence for Rehabilitation and Ageing Well at Mount Gould Hospital.

Mark Hackett, interim chief executive for UHP and Michelle Thomas, chief executive for Livewell Southwest, said: ‘The reconfiguration of the bed base on the Mount Gould Hospital site gives us an opportunity to provide specialist beds for the needs of our local population, and create a Centre of Excellence for Rehabilitation and Ageing Well. This is an opportunity to make the Mount Gould footprint a major community site for our patients and what will be a hub for future integrated neighbourhood teams.'

The plans include the merging of two rehabilitation wards, increasing capacity for stroke rehabilitation, providing specialist neuro-rehabilitation services and increasing the number of mental health beds.

With the age of the local population to grow by 20% over 10 years, UHP said the changes will allow the transfer around 1,000 outpatient appointments to the new centre.

Having recently invested in greater capacity and quality home reablement, UHP and Livewell Southwest successfully now see 30 more patients a week supported to go home after a hospital stay.

The partnership's goal is for 75% of patients to return home following hospital admission with the appropriate support.