Managers at East Lincolnshire Primary Care NHS Trust insist the closure of the Scarborough Ward from 1 November until March 2006 is a temporary step.

The trust is making drastic cuts to bridge the gaping hole of �7m in its finances caused by a budget shortfall.

All 26 staff on the ward will be redeployed as community nurses while it is shut.

'Summer swell'

Jo Furley, from the East Lincolnshire Primary Care Trust, said: "I'd like to reinforce this is just a temporary closure of five months.

"The time is quite apt because it is at the end of the summer swell season here in Skegness and it will be reopening in March of next year.

"We're certainly not looking at winding down our community hospital services.

"The dedicated palliative care beds, for the terminally ill, will be transferred to the ward opposite, the Gloucester ward."

As a result of the measures the 15-bed ward will become a 'summer-only' facility, for when Skegness's population is boosted by holidaymakers.

Reverend Malcolm France, hospital chaplain, said: "This hospital and the Scarborough Ward are badly needed services for a remote urban area surrounded completely by 40 miles of countryside.

"What we're looking for is development of services for this very deprived area that's got very few facilities as it is, and this hospital and Scarborough Ward in particular are desperately needed by this community."