The Gloucestershire Royal Hospital would be losing out on 40 beds in order to save money for the hospital. The decision to implement the changes was approved by the Health, Community and Care Overview of the County's Council on Tuesday.

According to the estimates made by the authorities, the hospital would be able to save up to £2 million. Prior to the decision to close 40 beds, the NHS Trust for Gloucestershire Hospitals had advised the closure of 200 beds.

While talking about the closure of beds, Chief Executive for the Trust, Dr. Frank Harsent stated that there is an impending likelihood that further beds will be lost in the future. Though, he refrained from mentioning the number of beds that would most likely be closed in the future.

He added that the expenses on the two major health facilities will be reduced, as people had been asking for healthcare near home.

While talking about the decision, Chairman of the Committee, Councilor Andrew Gravells stated that after listening to doubts raised by the committee, the NHS Trust had resolved all the worries, following which, the committee decided to go ahead with the closures. Councilor Gravells further reassured that the approval by the Committee did not mean that there would be a big closure of the beds.