Boston's Pilgrim Hospital could close children's ward

A decision about children services at Boston's Pilgrim Hospital will be made on Friday

A children's ward could be temporarily closed at a Lincolnshire hospital due to staff shortages.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) is considering shutting the eight-bed unit at Boston's Pilgrim Hospital from June.

It is one of five options proposed by the trust to deal with a "severe shortage of doctors and nurses".

In February, the hospital was forced to cancel all non-urgent children's operations due to a lack of staff.

ULHT said it was running a recruitment campaign as the trust "is very reliant on short-term agency doctors and nurses, many of whom only work occasional shifts".

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Other options include introducing midwife-led maternity services, transferring high-risk births elsewhere, and directing paediatric emergency cases to other hospitals.

Dr Neill Hepburn, medical director at the trust, said: "I want to emphasise that this is nothing to do with money.

"In fact, stopping planned operations and bringing in extra agency staff will cost the trust more money not save it. This is all about ensuring we can provide safe care."

'Really disturbing'

Sarah Fletcher, chief executive of Healthwatch Lincolnshire, acknowledged that staff recruitment was a "big issue" and that patient safety was the "most important thing".

However, she described the potential closure as "worrying and concerning".

"It's really disturbing for families," she said.

"You've got to suddenly take one child away somewhere else, possibly outside of the county as well.

"But if you've got other children at left home. How do you juggle all of that. How do you manage?"

In August 2016, the trust closed the accident and emergency unit at Grantham Hospital because of a lack of doctors.