SOUTHEND Hospital has started closing one of its wards at weekends due to a lack of demand.

Shopland Ward, for patients undergoing surgery for bone problems, will close from Saturday afternoon to Monday morning for the foreseeable future.

Many of the ward’s 35 beds have been empty at weekends.

Staff will work during the week instead, so no-one will lose their job.

Melanie Solieri, head nurse for the hospital’s musculoskeletal business unit, said: “We have undertaken considerable improvements on our orthopaedic pathway which have enabled us to significantly reduce our length of stay.

“This has resulted in the majority of our elective beds being empty at weekends.

“Making Shopland a six-day ward will ensure we have the right skill mix for our elective patients who are admitted Monday to Friday and utilise our staff in the best possible way for patients’ care and safety.”

The ward, which shut for the first time last weekend, will close from 4pm on Saturday to 7am on Monday.

The hospital said it would improve the mix of skills available during the week.

The same sort of closure has proved successful on the hospital’s Windsor Ward for a number of years.