Pilgrim Hospital "Will be Downgraded", according to UKIP Candidate

In what he claims are "secret meetings going on between the NHS Trust in Lincolnshire and councillors" some "major" and "worrying changes" are afoot. 

The future of services at Pilgrim Hospital COULD be at risk according to Robin Hunter Clarke (Boston and Skegness' UKIP Candidate). In an interview with Endeavour radio he says that Pilgrim Hospital "will be downgraded after the election".

"We are going to lose services in Boston, that's for sure," he concludes.

At Risk?

Sources at the hospital suggest that the Maternity Ward is most at risk, with official NHS documents detailing the closure of the ward as one of three options to save money.

Another options is to achieve targets "through workforce and other productivity and efficiency improvements."

The final is to consolidate care through "midwifery led care" and "obstetrics led care" (a Doctor specialising in pregnancy) on two different sites. The implication here could be that Pilgrim's services may be reduced to offering Midwifery care only with specialist doctors visiting regularly but not always in house.

Suneil Kapadia from United Lincolnshire Hospitals trust (who run the Pilgrim) says that "the way it delivers services is being reviewed". "No decision has been made" and "when a proposal has been agreed it will go out to full public consultation".

Matt Warman, The Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Boston and Skegness attacked Hunter-Clarke's revelation as a political move. 

"This is disgraceful, desperate scaremongering from UKIP. ULHT has just come out of special measures and morale is up significantly." 

He adds that "while decisions about changes to local health services are made locally, by doctors" he is "determined that those changes make services more focused and better."