To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, the team behind the campaign to save St Andrew's Ward in Wells say they have been told it will now not be closed until summer 2022 at the earliest.

St Andrew's is Mendip's last adult mental health ward, and the decision by the Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to close it followed a two and a half-year period of consultation with staff, patients, carers and colleagues in the voluntary sector and people with an interest in mental health to co-create a new model of mental health care for Somerset.

Together stakeholders developed a proposal to relocate 14 adult mental health beds from Wells to Yeovil.

However, the Save St Andrew's Ward Wells campaign say they have now been told that the ward closure has been put back to "no earlier than summer 2022".

A number of protests have been held in the area to highlight the campaign, including on Wells Cathedral Green and recently outside St John's Church in Glastonbury.

A petition against the closure of the ward can be found here, and at the time of writing has been signed by more than 2,300 people.

One of the team behind the campaign, Emma King, told Wells Nub News: "We held a march and rally in October in Wells, and a day of action and suicide awareness in Wells in December.

"Last month, we held a day of action and suicide awareness event outside St John's Church in Glastonbury, which attracted almost 30 people and helped to spread the word about this ward closure.

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"Since then, we have been visiting town and parish councils to encourage councils and councillors to write to the CCG opposing the closure.

"Furthermore, all the councillors in Somerset's district and county councils have been contacted and MPs across the region.

"This closure is a Somerset-wide issue - when one rural area of Somerset loses its services, it affects us all and sets a precedent allowing other local services to also close.

"With the campaign continuing for another year, we will be keeping the petition open and encouraging people to continue to write to the CCG at [email protected] to express their opposition to this ill-thought out and very poorly timed closure."

The campaign will be holding a demonstration at the CCG headquarters in Yeovil, Wynford House BA22 8HR, on Thursday May 27 at noon.

For further details, email [email protected], or join the group on Facebook - Save Our Community Services.