An East Midlands weekly is calling on readers to ‘use it or lose it’ in a race against time to save a maternity unit.

The Grantham Journal’s fight is part of a wider campaign, now in its fourth year, to preserve services at the town’s hospital.

The Journal launched ‘Save Grantham Hospital’ in 2005 and now has an 18-month battle on its hands to keep the midwife-managed maternity unit open.

It is ten years since consultants were moved from Grantham to a bigger hospital in Lincoln and 600 births are needed there between now and April 2010 for it to be considered viable.

Assistant editor Bob Hart, who has been spearheading the campaign, said: “The maternity unit situation is the thing we’re keeping an eye on.

“That’s the main focus from now on, awareness raising and encouraging people to use the unit.

“Everyone has a choice and a lot of people have been going to Lincoln.

“It’s hard to say if we’ll be successful – it’s one of those things that’s been taken out of the hands of the managers and put in the hands of the public.

“It’s important to the town and it’s important the paper fights for this when it comes under threat – the message is use it or lose it.”

The ‘Save Grantham Hospital’ campaign was launched after the NHS announced a review of services at Grantham Hospital.

These included downgrading A&E, stopping most surgery, closing the midwife-managed maternity unit and cutting children’s services.

The Journal organised two public protests with the second, in September 2006, attracted 5,000 people (below).

A full review and public consultation was later conducted by Lincolnshire Primary Care Trust and new proposals were announced which were much less damaging to services than was originally feared.

Bob added: “The two protest events showed the managers of the county’s NHS Trusts the huge amount of support there is in the town for proper hospital services.”