Stonington — Lawrence + Memorial Hospital has closed its diagnostic imaging and laboratory services facilities at its offices in the Stop & Shop Plaza in Pawcatuck, citing inadequate patient volume and the need for additional space for doctors transferring from The Westerly Hospital.

The closure took effect Friday.

"It's not sustainable," Mike O'Farrell, L+M spokesman, said Friday.

In a statement, L+M said "it is imperative that all health care organizations review their expense structure in order to reduce costs to compensate for decreasing reimbursement."

O'Farrell said no final determination has been made regarding staff who had worked at the site. Many are being reassigned to other L+M locations with adjusted hours and schedules, he said.

The office will continue to house space for doctors affiliated with L+M Physician Association. O'Farrell said several doctors who are now part of Westerly Hospital's Atlantic Medical Group will move into the Pawcatuck site. Those doctors had been working out of offices in North Stonington and Mystic, he said. Atlantic Medical Group physicians are joining LMPA.

A closing on the sale of Westerly Hospital to L+M is scheduled to take place at the end of this month.

In addition to the closure of the Pawcatuck site, lab services provided by Westerly Hospital on Clara Drive in Mystic were closed last month.

L+M directed patients who had used the Pawcatuck facility to lab facilities at: Westerly Hospital, 25 Wells St.; the Morgan Medical Building, 45 Wells St., Westerly; Wood River Health Services, 823 Main St., Hope Valley, R.I.; the main L+M Hospital at 365 Montauk Ave., New London; Pequot Health Center, 52 Hazelnut Hill Road, Groton; Flanders Health Center, 339 Flanders Road, East Lyme; and Shaw's Cove, 4 Shaw's Cove, New London.

Diagnostic imaging is available at Westerly and L+M hospitals, Wood River Health Services, Pequot Health Center and the Crossroads Professional Building, 196 Parkway South, Waterford.

j.benson@theday.com