A temporary closure of Glastonbury Health Centre will take place in December, NHS bosses have announced.

GP surgeries across Somerset can implement temporary closures with sufficient notice to allow for staff training or improvements to be made to the physical premises.

NHS bosses restricted surgeries' ability to close when the coronavirus pandemic began, but these restrictions were eased at the end of June.

The Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) – which decides how health resources are allocated across the county – has announced the Glastonbury Health Centre will close for half a day later in the year.

The practice will close for staff training – meaning patients will have to make appointments on other days, or use alternative facilities like minor injury units if there is an emergency.

Glastonbury Health Centre will be closed on Wednesday, December 2, from 1pm to 5pm.

The CCG said other practices could request short-term closures if the pandemic made it impossible to run the service safely.

Primary care contracts officer Sarah Matthews-Attree said: "Practices may need to request a temporary closure at short notice due to staffing levels and other issues, which may arise due to the outbreak of Covid-19.

"Two additional closures were approved for June, due to the need to train staff on new clinical programmes to be used as a result of the virus.

"Any practices that had closures already approved in this period [before June] were contacted to discuss whether the closure was essential and still required."