A SPECIALIST children s ward at Weston General Hospital is celebrating its first birthday.

A SPECIALIST children's ward at Weston General Hospital is celebrating its first birthday.

The Seashore Centre for children and young people at Weston Area Health Trust, which runs the hospital in Grange Road, opened in February last year.

Since opening its doors to patients, the centre has treated 1,121 paediatric outpatients and 1,454 children have been seen in the day care ward, which has 10 beds.

The Weston & Somerset Mercury and other organisations in the town raised thousands of pounds for the facility through the Weston Super Kids Appeal.

The hospital's League of Friends also made an £800,000 donation.

Young patients are either referred to the Seashore Centre by their GP, through the hospital's accident and emergency department, or from hospitals in Taunton or Bristol.

They may come for a review of their treatment or for planned investigations or tests, or simply because they have been taken ill suddenly and require medical assessment.

The hospital's medical director, Dr Tricia Woodhead, said: "We are delighted to be celebrating the first anniversary of the Seashore Centre, which is offering a superb service to our community - just as we planned it would do.

"Already it is offering more services than when it opened, such as dental surgery, and ear, nose and throat surgery is planned to commence shortly too.

"We are particularly pleased to have prevented a lot of travel and upheaval for a large number of families in the area who would previously have had to go to Bristol or Taunton for some procedures and can now come into the Seashore Centre instead."

North Somerset Primary Care Trust, which commissions work from the hospital, makes a significant contribution to the staffing and running costs of the Seashore Centre.