NHS trust to move HQ from Sleaford to newly refurbished Lincoln base

Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS) is moving its Sleaford headquarters to a Lincoln premises, which was recently given a £1 million makeover.

LCHS opened the Sleaford headquarters at Bridge House, Lions Way, in 2011 but in a bid to move more staff under one roof, is relocating all 127 HQ staff to Lincoln by the end of November.

In total, some 270 staff from Bridge House, Welton House in Lincoln, Greetwell Place in Lincoln and administrative staff from John Coupland Hospital in Gainsborough, will move to Beech House, Lincoln.

Beech House, on Waterside South, has recently seen a £1 million investment from property owners Investors in Lincoln, with work carried out by Lindum Construction.

The trust says no Sleaford services will be affected by the move. The Riversdale Clinic will remain open and staff will still be working in the community in the town.

Andrew Morgan, LCHS Chief Executive, said: “We want to say a very hearty thank you to all of the businesses and the general public of Sleaford for making us feel so welcome here.

“Unfortunately, the building here at Sleaford no longer meets our needs and we are moving staff over to a more suitable building in Lincoln.”

The trust has 2,500 staff who care for thousands of patients every day in community hospitals, health clinics, schools, children’s centres and also deliver care to patients within their own homes.

Suzanne Bradley, Head of Estates and Facilities Management at LCHS, said: “Having more clinical and non-clinical staff in the same building will lead to more joined up working and better lines of communication.

“We can continue with more in-house training and avoid off-site costs.

“We have also invested in an upgraded telephone system which will enable us to reduce call costs and some of the car journeys for staff thanks to the improved technology such as video conferencing.”

Beech House was refurbished through a two-phase project. Phase one saw the ground floor handed over to LCHS in September and phase two saw the first and second floors completed and handed over this week.

Lindum Construction Managing Director Simon Gregory said: “As a local construction company, owned by its employees and employing local contractors, it has been particularly rewarding to be able to use our skills and expertise to reinstate a prominent building in the city such as Beech House.

“Situated on Waterside South, its history starting out as part of the ‘titanic’ works, this building has been brought back into use and now provides modern office facilities with as many of the existing features as possible having retained during the sympathetic renovation and refurbishment works.”

Current 01529 telephone numbers will be automatically transferred to Lincoln numbers for a period of six months. and new numbers will be advertised.