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The temporary closure of Weston General Hospital has left staff "worried and confused", a trade union has said.

On Monday, the hospital stopped accepting new patients due to a high number of coronavirus cases.

Unison representative Liz French said: "They're confused, they're worried but I have to say they are pulling together to do their best for their patients and all their colleagues."

The hospital said the reopening date remained "under review".

"It's not just the patients that have been diagnosed with Covid-19 but also lots of the staff because they've done lots of testing over the past week or so," Ms French added.

"They were unhappy but they were getting on with their jobs."

She said staff felt there was a lack of communication from bosses.

"Although the senior management team were meeting every couple of days to discuss the way forward but that wasn't getting down to the staff.

"That was the biggest problem and that's why they were so worried," she said.

The Weston Area Health NHS Trust which runs the hospital has been asked for comment on the union's concerns.

Testing staff

A hospital spokeswoman earlier said staff had been tested for a number of weeks, but on Friday, testing was opened up to all staff, whether or not they showed symptoms.

These results were not in yet, she added.

The exact number of patients being diagnosed with the virus has not been confirmed.

On Monday, medical director Dr William Oldfield said there was a "robust" coronavirus testing programme in place for patients and staff to identify cases quickly.