A decision to close a hospital accident and emergency unit overnight has been backed by the government.
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) closed Grantham Hospital’s unit a year ago because a lack of doctors.
In February, Lincolnshire County Council asked Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to review the decision.
Mr Hunt then called for the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) review and backed its view the unit should not reopen until it had “sufficient staff”.
The county council’s Conservative leader Martin Hill described Mr Hunt’s decision as a “disappointing result”.
“The fear that this ‘temporary closure’ would be anything but temporary, has proved to be entirely founded”, said Mr Hill.
“It is unacceptable that Grantham district has had a substantial change to hospital services for over a year without proper consultation or planning.”
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.
The trust’s actions led to protests from a campaign group opposed to the closure of the unit from 18:30 to 09:00.
Article from BBC news, 7 August 2017