HOSPITAL bosses have been urged to commit to keeping a maternity ward in Braintree after mounting speculation it could shut.

Residents have told the Times they have heard the unit at William Julien Courtauld Hospital in London Road, will close, forcing mothers from across the district to go to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.

However, when asked, health bosses could not categorically say that maternity will not ever move to Broomfield.

See this week's Braintree and Witham Times for full story.