The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
The children’s ward at Pilgrim Hospital could close in June.
A staffing crisis has spurred crunch talks, set to take place on Friday.
The number of beds available on the ward has already been reduced from 12 to eight, a United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust report said.
Options will be considered on Friday, two of which involve temporarily ceasing children’s services at the hospital.
The first options is keeping the services if staff can be found. The report said: “For all of Pilgrim’s children’s services to operate 24/7, there should be eight middle grade doctors and 28.65 registered children’s nurses at the hospital.”
The report predicts it will have just one doctor in July.
Option two involves closing the ward on June 4 and redirecting paediatric emergencies to other hospitals, likely to be Lincoln or Grantham.
Another option is to stop outpatient services.
