A HOSPITAL has stopped admitting patients to its children's ward for three weeks in a move blamed on staff shortages.
St John's Hospital in Livingston, West Lothian, will still assess patients on weekdays but will have to transfer children to Edinburgh if they need to be admitted.
NHS Lothian said the controversial decision was "not taken lightly".
From yesterday, the ward will open Monday to Friday from 8am to 8pm as an assessment and programmed investigation unit but will close at weekends.
NHS Lothian said the ward will return to a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week service on July 30.
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