The first closure of a cottage hospital under the present government went ahead this week, just months after ministers said community hospitals would no longer be sidelined.

Horncastle War Memorial Hospital, Lincolnshire, closed inpatient services on Tuesday after Lincolnshire health authority pressed ahead with a service review aimed at cutting a£5m deficit. The shutdown of the 13-bed unit, which was built after the first world war, has been bitterly opposed by local people who claim the cuts represent a further 'disenfranchisement' of rural communities.

Richard Banyard, project director of the service review at Lincolnshire HA, said care could be better provided by neighbouring general hospitals and by community nurse-supported care at home.

But hospital nursing sister Sue Crease said patients would have to travel 20 miles to the nearest general hospitals, and many of them would be forced to use poor public transport.

'The community is very angry and extremely bitter, ' she said.

The government said in The New NHS white paper: 'Patients will be able to use local community hospitals to the full rather than having to travel to more distant acute hospitals. This will be particularly significant in rural areas.'

The Community Hospitals Association estimates that around 20 community hospitals are under threat of closure.

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