The staff taking action are employed by a private company

Health managers have admitted they might have to close Louth Hospital to emergency medical patients again because of a staffing crisis.

Over the weekend 14 patients had to be diverted to Lincoln and Grimsby hospitals because of staff shortages at Louth.

Hospital officials have also conceded that staff are demoralised because of the problems.

But the medical director for the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Dr Keith Sands, denied lives were put at risk at the weekend.

He said: "It is a serious course of action and obviously we only do it as a last resort.

"But we felt in the interests of patient safety it was the right thing to do, it was the only thing to do.

"So after discussions with the trusts around us and the primary care trusts and the ambulance trust we decided to go ahead and close for 36 hours."