Boston's Pilgrim Hospital to keep children's services

Boston's Pilgrim Hospital will maintain the "majority" of its maternity and children's services

The "majority" of children and maternity services at a Lincolnshire hospital are to remain open.

The unit at Boston's Pilgrim Hospital had been under threat of closure because of what managers described as a "severe shortage of doctors and nurses".

High-risk births and some children's medical care will be transferred to other hospitals from August.

Campaigner Rachel Bray said the changes were still "not good enough".

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United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) said it was now able to fund two additional consultant doctor posts.

The trust's medical director Neill Hepburn said "98% of patients" would still be treated at Pilgrim Hospital.

"We can maintain services for the majority of patients," he said.

"So outpatients continues the same. Most of the patients who require open access it's exactly the same

"There's a paediatric assessment unit rather than a full admissions ward, but the number of patients affected would be very small."

ULHT said on average two children a day and two pregnant women a week would be transferred to other hospitals.

Ms Bray, from the campaign group SOS Pilgrim, said: "We will continue to campaign for our children and the community

"We deserve better."

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