A falling number of patients has led Bath’s Mineral Hospital to propose stopping providing its neuro rehabilitation service.

The hospital gets referrals from outside the region, but patients are increasingly being treated nearer to where they live.

It specialises in rheumatology, neurological rehabilitations, fatigue and pain management.

As the county’s smallest Foundation Trust, it says it is addressing significant financial challenges and needs to consider the future of any service where patient referrals are dropping.

A letter to Wiltshire Council’s health select committee says: “The overall change in demand has meant that the income for the service has reduced by almost 50 per cent over the last three-and-a-half years.

“The service went from a peak in August 2010, when it provided 578 occupied bed days, to August 2012, when activity had reduced to 192 occupied bed days.”

Wiltshire sent 19 patients in that time, and will now look for another trust which has a unit to help people needing this care.