The trust which runs Grantham Hospital says it will fight a claim in court that the hospital's A&E department was 'downgraded' into an Urgent Treatment Centre without sufficient public consultation.

The move follows hospital campaigners winning the right to have the case heard in the High Court, after a High Court Judge gave approval last week, as reported by Nub News yesterday.

Over the summer, United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust downgraded Grantham Hospital's A&E into an Urgent Treatment Centre as it created a 'green' Covid-free area, so the hospital could focus on other treatments, such as cancer.

The Trust says this will continue until March 2021.

A spokesperson for ULHT told Nub News: "The Trust does not intend to comment on the ongoing legal proceedings, other than to say the changes made to services at Grantham hospital were temporary in nature and made in response to the national COVID-19 emergency. We do intend to defend the claim."