Health Secretary visits Somerset

It probably wasn't the welcome the Health Secretary was hoping for when he visited the West today. Waiting for him in Weston-super-Mare was a group of protesters.

The town's hospital is millions of pounds in debt and there are claims it's understaffed and short of beds. Our political reporter Robert Murphy was in Weston as Jeremy Hunt arrived.

The Secretary of State for Health will be in Weston-super-Mare today.

Jeremy Hunt will open a new NHS dental practice, and comes three days after he announced Weston General Hospital's A and E department will receive nearly five million pounds to cope with an expected increase in demand this winter.

Hospitals in the West Country are to benefit from a share of Government cash to help them with expected increases in demand this winter.

The Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt made the announcement on Tuesday.

• North Bristol NHS Trust will receive almost £6million
• Weston General Hospital will get £4.8million
• Royal United Hospital in Bath will receive £4.4million

The Conservative MP for Weston-super-Mare has welcomed today's decision by the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to give Weston General Hospital's Accident and Emergency Department an additional £4.8m to deal with expected increases in demand this Winter.

John Penrose said he had campaigned for better health funding for Weston and the villages for years, and so have hospital staff and GPs too:

But Mr Penrose also said; 'It may not solve all our health funding problems, but it’s a huge step in the right direction, and it shows our message is getting through in Westminster.'