Nearly 70 beds have been closed across three wards at Norfolk's biggest hospital this month, it has emerged.

But the changes at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital – to Cringleford, Edgefield, and Holt wards – are only 'temporary', according to senior chiefs.

The decision to close 68 beds across the wards has been made in a bid to reduce spending on temporary nursing.

Last month the N&N was placed in financial special measures. The hospital trust faces a deficit of more than £30m this year.

Richard Parker, chief operating officer, said it is expected the wards will reopen in around eight weeks time – when 100 newly qualified nurses from University of East Anglia start work at the hospital.

He said the hospital is taking advantage of a seasonal low in patients to consolidate staff onto fewer wards and make savings in agency staffing.

The changes have been made possible because of improvements in the emergency department (A&E) performance and reducing the number of patients staying longer than 14 days, he said.

Bill Adnams, a member of the Norfolk branch of campaign group Keep Our NHS Public, said: 'This was predictable and it's a result of the five-year forward plan for the NHS.

'I think these will be permanent closures. That's the whole point of these programmes; they're happening across the country and they will have devastating effects on the NHS.'

There are around 1,200 beds for patients at the N&N.

Meanwhile hospital bosses at James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn said there were no planned bed closures this year.