Hospital managers promised to be open and honest with the public, but could offer no assurances that the outcome of a review of services at Grantham Hospital would be popular.
Mr Bowles, recently appointed chairman of the Trust after the resignation of Jenny Green, said: "I think the important point from my position as chairman is that no decisions have yet been made.

"We have no preconceived ideas whatsoever of what the outcomes are.
"I like to think I have a reputation for being very logical and analytical in the way I look at things.
"I'm anxious that it's seen to be clinically-led because we have to find a balance between clinical needs and finance.
"I'm coming to this with no baggage and no preconceived ideas. I'm very interested in what the clinicians and the public have to say."
Mr Bowles said managers would be talking to doctors in the coming weeks to help decide the best way of providing services and decide the future of services at Grantham, including A&E.
He said: "I give no guarantee you will like the outcome when the review is finished.
"My only guarantee is that it will be rigorous, thorough, and data-led."

Mr Davies outlined discussions he has had with Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt about the possibility of having Grantham Hospital removed from United Lincolnshire Hospitals to become part of Trusts in Peterborough or Nottingham.
He said: "Grantham Hospital is always going to need a relationship with someone. Nottingham and Peterborough are preferable to Lincoln - they're much better, bigger hospitals.
"There may be a deal to be done and I know Patricia Hewitt won't stand in the way of that if its in the interest of all parties concerned."
Mrs Froggatt said: "The previous guidance we have had was that we should not look outside county boundaries for solutions. The steer we've always had for Grantham, and if there's a different steer that's encouraging, is that we must look at solutions for Grantham that are conterminous with county council boundaries.
"If you have received a different steer that's clearly something we'd explore, but that's not a discussion we've had so far."

Mrs Froggatt said one reason the future of A&E in Grantham is being reconsidered is the decision to remove Level 3 critical care - for people who need help to breathe or more than one organ requiring support - from Grantham.
She said: "In my meetings with the medical advisory committee in Grantham the clinicians have been very realistic and they feel in the light of their own Royal College's position, level 3 intensive care needed to return to Lincoln.
"There are no cirumstances in which it can return - that is their preferred position.
"We need to look at what that means for A&E, without scaring anybody, but being realistic and looking at the context of the A&E service."
Mr Davies said: "Royal Colleges alway over-compensate. In actual practice you find there's some very viable models at something less than the idealised models. The best is the enemy of the good."

Journal editor Tim Robinson told the Trust about the level of public feeling that had been on show at the rally.
He said: "You mentioned public consultation, which is very interesting because we have just come from the rally where literally thousands were there feeling extremely strongly about the issues.
"I think it's very clear that part of the consultation has begun. Those people on the street and the hundreds of people who write letters to the Grantham Journal every week are intensely concentrated on this and they don't want to see A&E downgraded regardless of the outcome of your review."
Mr Wilks said: "From the district council perspective, the whole public wants to perceive that these discussions have been open and transparent in every way. I think that's the vital thing for the future.
"The public need to know the cause of your decisions."