Lincoln County Hospital needs to improve its care of patients and support of staff or risk facing serious action, says a report by the Commission of Quality Care (CQC).
At a surprise visit to five of the hospital’s wards on November 21, inspectors found a number of issues of concern, particularly in one ward.
While in many instances inspectors saw examples of good practice and generally received positive feedback from patients, the report found needs were not being consistently met in Clayton Ward.
The areas that give the CQC most concern are care and welfare of people, supporting staff, and assessing and monitoring the quality of service.
According to report, concerning examples include one patient stating they were left in their own faeces for half an hour before it was cleared.
This indicates that the patient’s dignity was not maintained or respected.
While many patients had a comprehensive care plan, others did not, meaning patients’ needs might not be fully met appropriately.
As well as patients, the report found that staff were not supported adequately, such as not having enough staff on call, or not enough support should staff want to undertake further training while on the wards too.
CQC Deputy Director of Operation Andrea Gordon said: “During our unannounced inspection, we identified a number of unacceptable failings on one ward in particular.
“Some of these related to the dignity of people, accuracy of records, and the risk this poses, as well as numbers of staff and the support and training they had been given to do their jobs.
“The major concerns we found related to Clayton Ward but it is vital that changes are made so that a consistent service is given to patients across the hospital.
“We have received an action plan from the trust detailing the improvements it intends to make and will be making further unannounced visits to check on their progress with this.
“When we inspect again we will expect the trust to be able to demonstrate it has made rapid and sustainable improvements.”
Further action CQC could take if the improvements are not demonstrated include limiting services, prosecution or even closure.
United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust have responded to the report: “We are pleased the CQC acknowledges that the majority of patients receive good standards of care at Lincoln County Hospital.
“The quality of this care is recognised repeatedly in the Commission’s report, which includes highly positive comments from patients.
“The report also highlights many examples of good practice – including strong infection control, respect for patient dignity, good quality food, good communication with patients and hourly contact with nurses.
“However, we are extremely disappointed that issues were found on one ward out of the five visited.
“This is unacceptable and the Trust fully acknowledges that there are opportunities to improve. We already acted swiftly to address concerns raised on this ward since the CQC visit in November.
“This includes recruiting replacement staff to ensure we meet patient need, greater involvement of matrons at ward level, re-training staff in the reporting and handling of incidents and sharing lessons learned and better monitoring systems to pick up issues of concern earlier.
“The CQC revisited in January and the inspectors gave very positive verbal feedback about the progress being made,” a spokesperson said.
Photo: Dominic Clark for The Lincolnite
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Lincolnshire residents are already feeling the impact of the rise in energy bills, which could soar to over £4,000 next year, with some saying they will just cancel their direct debits.
Energy bills for a typical household could hit £4,266 next year, experts warned. The higher estimate means the average household would be paying £550 a month, instead of £164 a month currently.
Two Lincolnshire MPs said they are pleased with the support being offered by the government so far, while a third sounded the alarm for extra support.
This comes after Cornwall Insight criticised regulator Ofgem’s decision to change the price cap every three months instead of six, as higher wholesale prices are also forecast. However, Ofgem said no forecast for next year could be “robust” at this stage and had “limited value”, according to the BBC.
In May, a £400 energy bill support was announced which was calculated on the basis of Ofgem’s prediction at the time that the price cap was likely to rise to £2,800, but experts now believe this will be higher. Here’s an explainer on how to access the energy grant here.
The Don’t Pay UK movement is demanding a reduction in energy bills to an affordable level, saying: “We will cancel our direct debt from October 1, if we are ignored. We will take this action if pledges reach one million by then.”
This sentiment was echoed by The Lincolnite readers, including Laura Jayne Coupland who said: “I will just cancel my direct debit because it’s an absolute joke. It’s about time the government intervened properly, if you care about the people and the economy so much, why are you allowing it? Let me guess, you will benefit from it.”
Kayleigh Dawson said: “I’ve cancelled my energy direct debits and will pay monthly what I can afford to. I’m more conscious on how much money I’m spending on outgoings and limiting them where possible.
“But, in complete honesty, who is not worried about the ever rising cost of just living and surviving? We shouldn’t be going from being comfortable to scraping by because those in powerful positions want second and third homes.”
Karl Anders said: “People seem to have no spare cash nowadays. My print business has gone from £108k during the pandemic to £5k this year. On top of this, we’ll probably be paying £300-£400 a month energy soon based on already thrifty usage.
“I don’t think many people understand how bad it’s going to get with food price rises, etc. There is a “I’ll put a jumper on” mentality currently, which will soon be shattered in October.”
Michael Basford said: “You do what our grandparents did, you cut your cloth. Our grandparents generation were amazing and very pragmatic when it came to making a little go far.
“Make do and mend as my grandmother use to say. So people should be planning for the worst case scenario now, not when it’s here and then too late. Own it.”
Peter Sykes said: “It’ll impact me by not using my heating. Probably not being able to pay my bills. Not able to buy food. Probably lead to a lot of people needlessly dying.”
Karen Price said: “Just had a bill for gas and lecky just under £3k for 8 months! British Gas put an estimate on the bill saying it will be just under £6k for 12 months next year.
“I’m not holding my breath for the October increases and tied myself in to a fixed not variable.
“Since my last supplier went bankrupt and it’s taken oven 8 months for British Gas to get us fully swapped over, it’s already increased tariff twice.
“Five years ago I was paying under £160 per month for both utilities. £2k per year, it’s now getting beyond a joke, considering three family members no longer live at home.
Ady Brodrick said: “Rising costs are a terrible thing for people, however with a change in lifestyle and some education the cost could be reduced. Sometimes it is situations like this that makes us change.”
Dennis Murray said: “Not quite sure how all this happened, except for a bit of rumouring. The country is definitely not going to survive under the current charges.
“Businesses are going to go to the wall, people on low wages are going to end up on full-time benefits, the countries tax recipes will collapse.
“There WILL be anarchy on our streets, people who have never demonstrate will now do it, crime will increase, people will cancel house, car, life, home insurance because they will not be able to afford it.
“Pensioners and other vulnerable people will turn their heating down, and some will die. Transport and personal cars will be a no no. I could go on and on. But this is reality, and what we are facing if something is not done now.”
Lincolnshire County Councillor Colin Davie said there were challenging times ahead for people on low incomes due to rising energy costs and political instability.
He said successive governments “of all colours” had “simply failed the British public on energy”.
“They haven’t planned, they haven’t invested, they haven’t built the infrastructure. So rising energy costs, which we should have been protected, are now absolutely under the whims of other people.”
He said there needed to be a balanced energy mix including solar, nuclear, wind, but that the current infrastructure was disconnected and “not secure”.
And he warned it was only going to get worse with reserves from Norway drying up and other countries having to make drastic changes over how much they export.
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