People are being asked to consider alternative health services as A&E departments in the county face extra pressure. The warning from health bosses come as a weather warning for cold conditions and possible snow edges nearer. An updated warning from the Met Office is in place for showers of snow and sleet in Lincolnshire between five…
EMAS will retain private crews until the end of March to meet demand. Photo: Emily Norton for Lincolnshire Reporter
People are being asked to consider alternative health services as A&E departments in the county face extra pressure.
The warning from health bosses come as a weather warning for cold conditions and possible snow edges nearer.
An updated warning from the Met Office is in place for showers of snow and sleet in Lincolnshire between five past midnight on Friday, January 13 and five to midnight that day.
Forecasters say two to four centimetres of snow may affect lowland levels and disruption to some transport networks is expected. Strong winds will also affect coastal areas of the county.
A Met Office weather warning has been issued for Lincolnshire with coastal areas particularly affected.
Social care staff have been placed in all hospitals to help patients return home as quickly as possible, freeing up hospital beds, as well as signposting people at the doors of A&E departments who may not need to be there.
Lynne Bucknell, hospital services manager at the council, says: “Winter means the health and care system as a whole faces considerable challenges in dealing with greater numbers of patients, this is particularly the case when we have severe weather.
“In social care, we’ve planned with our health colleagues for increased demand. We have social care staff based in all our hospitals, making sure people are getting home safely as soon as they’re ready. We also have staff at the front door of the hospital to help people who need support but don’t need to be at A&E.”
Interim Director of Operations Michael Woods at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust said: “The whole of the NHS in Lincolnshire continues to face significant demand on its services.
“This also involves using community bed capacity for patients who are aren’t ill enough to be in hospital but aren’t well enough to be discharged home. However we still have a high number of very sick patients on our wards with complex health needs.
“A&E remains open as usual but is exceptionally busy.
“We would ask people to only attend A&E with serious or life threatening illnesses and to seek alternative support for on-going problems or minor injuries.
“Those who attend with minor conditions will still be treated, but will have long waits. We urge everyone to think twice before they go to A&E – if it’s not serious or life threatening, you shouldn’t be there.
“Many illnesses can be better treated by visiting your local pharmacy, calling 111, visiting your local GP, or GP out of hours services, or attending a walk in centre or a minor injuries unit.”
The range of alternative services to A&E includes:
Pharmacy
Your local pharmacist can provide confidential, expert advice and treatment for a range of common illnesses and complaints, without you having to go to your GP or other healthcare setting.
NHS 111
NHS 111 is a service which makes it easier for you to access NHS services. NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year and is free when you telephone 111. You can call 111 when you need medical help fast but is not a 999 emergency.
GP Out of Hours service
If you need a doctor out of normal hours, dial NHS 111 to contact the GP Out of Hours service.
Walk in centre
Lincoln Walk-in Centre, 63 Monks Road. Lincoln LN2 5HP
Tel: 01522 528153 opening times 8am- 8pm
Grantham Enhanced Out of Hours Service
Kingfisher Suite, Grantham and District Hospital, Grantham NH31 8DG
For booked appointments with the traditional GP Out of Hours Service, dial NHS 111 6.30pm-8am on weekdays or 24hours a day at weekends and Bank Holidays.
For injuries only (cuts, minor burns, sprains and suspected fractures, bites and stings), walk in without an appointment 6.30pm-11.30pm seven days a week.
Minor injury units
Sleaford Medical Group, 47 Boston Road, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, NG34 7HD
Tel: 01529 419100 opening times 8am – 8pm weekdays, 8am – 6pm weekends
The City Care Centre, Thorpe Road, Peterborough PE3 6DB.
Tel: 01733 293800 opening times 8am-8pm
Newark minor injury unit and urgent care centre
Newark Hospital, Boundary Road , Newark, Nottinghamshire, NG24 4DE
Tel: 01636 681681 opening times
John Coupland Hospital, Ropery Road, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, DN21 2TJ.
Tel: 01427 816 502, open seven days: 8am – 8pm
Johnson Community Hospital, Spalding Road, Pinchbeck, PE11 3DT
Tel: 01775 652000 , open seven days: 8am – 6pm
Urgent Care Centres
Sleaford Medical Group, 47 Boston Road, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, NG34 7HD
Tel: 01529 419100 opening times 6.30pm – 8pm weekdays, 8am – 6pm weekends
Skegness Hospital, Dorothy Avenue, Skegness, Lincolnshire PE25 2BS
Tel: 01754 613504
Open: 24 hours, seven days a week (including Christmas Day and Bank Holidays)
County Hospital, High Holme Road, Louth, Lincolnshire LN11 0EU
Tel: 01507 600100 ext 1223
Open: 24 hours, seven days a week (including Christmas Day and Bank Holidays)
The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
Coal is the dirtiest of all the green house gases, which is why even the present government has committed to phase out coal power completely by 2024 and driving forward power generation based on renewables with a decarbonised power system by 2035.
The development of wind and solar power means that clean energy is now cheaper than coal generation in most countries, and the cost of new coal based energy plants is well above the cost of new wind and solar farms.
Sustainable non-carbon sources of energy are essential to tackle global warming, and just as essential for hard pressed consumers who are currently paying far more than they need to for their energy use.
District councils in Lincolnshire are already supporting low income households with the Home Energy Upgrade scheme to help them insulate their homes and install low carbon heating for the coming winter.
This is no time for complacency. The rapid acceleration of global warming is evident to everyone just now, andthe time for prevarication is over.
There is no contradiction between tackling global warming and making sure that we can all pay our energy bills.
A Lincoln woman was hospitalised for six months after giving birth whilst having coronavirus, enduring multiple strokes and spending five weeks in a coma. Now, she is fundraising for private treatment to speed up her recovery.
Josie Busby had coronavirus in September last year before testing positive for it again in November. After a dizzy spell, and due to being heavily pregnant, she phoned NHS 111 and an ambulance was sent out.
Josie, now 40, was taken to Lincoln County Hospital where the baby’s heart rate was seen to be high. After waiting to see if her condition improved, doctors decided that for the safety of her and the baby an emergency c-section would be performed.
William, 5, became a big brother to George two days later when Josie’s new baby was born in November 10 last year.
However, Josie suffered multiple strokes and was sent to Glenfield Hospital in Leicester on November 13 for specialist treatment as she was “desperately poorly”, her husband Rob said.
Josie with her sons William, 5, and George who is now around nine months old.
Josie returned to Lincoln County Hospital four days later but her condition continued to deteriorate. She was put into an induced coma for five weeks, where she said she had a lot of tubes inside her. During her time in hospital, her new baby George was looked after at home by her husband Rob and his mum.
Josie came out of the coma in December, but remained in hospital until June 20 this year and she is determined to speed up her recovery by fundraising for private treatment.
Josie is determined to become more mobile again.
She is now having NHS stroke recovery treatment (physio and speech therapy) and also has carers coming to her house at least twice a day to help her with personal care and to get dressed, while family and friends have been helping with batch cooking.
An emotional Josie told The Lincolnite that she is desperate to have the joy of being able to look after her children properly as she has really struggled with not being able to physically do much for them.
She said: “It’s all a blur. I can’t remember much until around February of this year. Although I was awake in December I wasn’t aware of what was going on as I was on a lot of medication.
“I’ve only been home six weeks and my left side is still weak. I can’t hold George in the way that I want to and should, so I am still working on that bond, and I can’t even change his nappy at the moment.
“The physio is coming to the house four to five days a week, helping with my speech, handwriting and physio work. That has been really upsetting for me as I had beautiful handwriting before and now it’s like I’ve never written before, it’s gone completely. I am like a baby learning from the beginning.
Josie (right) with her sister Alice (left).
“I can’t walk across the living room, clean or cook, and when I am in bed I feel like a prisoner as I can’t roll over. My main objective is to be more mobile again so I can do normal activities and look after George and William.
“Because I’m more aware of things now, I am feeling more emotional. I am having counselling to work on that. I think once you’re home in a lot of ways it’s harder as you are more aware of what you can’t do at home, whereas in hospital you get a lot of help with things.
“The support we have had from our parents has been amazing, and above and beyond.”
Josie has felt upset about not being able to look after her baby boy George properly and is trying to raise money to speed up her recovery.
Josie set up a GoFundMe page as the NHS treatment she is having is for a shorter period of time and she said “not being with the kids properly is killing me at the moment”.
She said: “Having children really motivates me to want to get better soon. It is horrible being at home and not being able to look after them, or myself, properly.
“I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has donated. It really means a lot to us and the boys. I also want to thank the hospital staff who were amazing.”
Josie feeding her baby boy George.
Josie’s husband Rob said: “At the very beginning it was very much a shock. When I saw her for the first time after George was born she was essential vacuum packed with tubes coming out of her. It was really scary.
“There were a lot of uncertain weeks at the beginning and I was being given updates from ICU – at one point she was given a 10% chance of survival. It is definitely good that she is home. The help she is getting is really good, what she is after with the GoFundMe page is to add to that.
“Even in this short space of time she’s been home she’s had marked improvements. There is still a long way to go, but she is determined.
“What we’ve had so far (support from hospital and carers) has been really good. All the support from the maternity and Ashby wards, and ICU, was excellent, and from my perspective they couldn’t do enough for me (when I was on the maternity wing with George).”
Whatsapp
