Grantham A&E night closure will continue until October

Grantham Hospital's A&E united started closing at night in August 2016

A hospital's accident and emergency department is to remain closed overnight for another three months.

The Grantham and District Hospital unit began closing between 18:30 and 09:00 in August last year due to a lack of staff.

The United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) decided at a meeting to continue with the overnight closure until October.

Health campaigners described the decision as "extremely disappointing".

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ULHT employs about 17 doctors across its three sites in Lincoln, Boston and Grantham, and needs a minimum of 21 to keep all of them open for 24 hours.

Last week, the trust issued a plea for people to stay away from Lincoln's A&E unit due to a shortage of doctors.

'Having trouble'

ULHT chief executive Jan Sobieraj said pressure on Lincoln's A&E contributed to the decision to keep Grantham's unit closed overnight.

"One of the reasons why the Grantham decision was made today is because we are being supported by our Grantham teams, who are literally, physically going over to support the Lincoln service," he said.

Jodi Clarke from the group Fighting 4 Grantham Hospital said what was meant to be a temporary closure at Grantham had lasted for a year.

"It is concern for where are we meant to go," she said.

"With Lincoln having trouble, are we all meant to turn up at Boston?"