Government needs to provide more funding to attract GPs to Lincolnshire, says council
A Lincolnshire council is calling on the government to release extra funding to attract rural GPs to the county. West Lindsey District Council has written to all councils in Lincolnshire to ask them to support their motion to resolve the recruitment crisis. Patients in Gainsborough and the rest of the district often have four-week waiting…
A Lincolnshire council is calling on the government to release extra funding to attract rural GPs to the county.
West Lindsey District Council has written to all councils in Lincolnshire to ask them to support their motion to resolve the recruitment crisis.
Patients in Gainsborough and the rest of the district often have four-week waiting times to see a GP.
The area is also woefully short of GPs. The GP to patient ratio should be 1,750 but in Gainsborough it is 3,000.
County-wide, the number of GPs in Lincolnshire is 360 – 60 short of the expected level.
Chief executive of West Lindsey District Council Manjeet Gill is seeking support from chief executives of other authorities.
She said: “We recognise this issue is not isolated to rural areas like ours which is why we need to work together as a collective voice to make changes.”
Pam Steadman, practice manager at Caskgate Street Surgery, highlighted the difficulties in recruitment she has experienced in the last few years.
She said: “We had an opportunity to offer a golden handshake with our recruitment campaign early last year. This was a one off and we have not been able to secure this again with our current advert.
“We have advertised a total of three times since autumn 2015.
“From these campaigns we were able to employ one salaried GP, recruited from the second round. Our current advert has not attracted any interest at all, not even informal enquiries.
“There appears to be a total lack of candidates looking for employment within general practice.”
Tracy Lloyd, practice manager at Cleveland Surgery, added: “Recruitment in primary care is a problem all across the country and especially in rural areas like Gainsborough.
“I believe the only way is to move forward, working together with the available resources in the area such as GPs and community teams. We need to work collaboratively and try to resolve issues to provide better care to the patients in the area.
“Cleveland Surgery has tried to recruit in the past and had difficulty getting the appropriate clinicians on-board. This year we have successfully appointed a general practitioner via a personal contact.”
“However, some practices cannot bring the GPs into rural areas even after offering ‘golden handshake’.”
Dr Sunil Hindocha, chief clinical officer at NHS Lincolnshire West Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “There is no doubt that primary care is under severe pressure – not just in Gainsborough and surrounding villages but across Lincolnshire.
“We do face a challenge in attracting GPs to our area and we have launched, with the LMC, a couple of initiatives that seek to improve this.
“Our GP international recruitment scheme, the first of this kind in the country, will see 25 GPs coming into Lincolnshire over the next few months. We hope that two of these GPs will end up working in Gainsborough.
“This will ease pressure and give us a bit of time to train up the next generation of GPs in the region.
“The other is an initiative where all the main health organisations in the county come together to think about how we sell Lincolnshire as a great place to work.”
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.
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.
A car was set on fire during an alleged arson attack in Lincoln.
Damage was caused to the interior of the vehicle in the incident on Imp Close overnight on January 21, but fortunately it did not fully ignite.
Lincolnshire Police released an image of a person on Friday, March 5 in connection with the arson attack, who they believe is aged 13 to 20 and may be able to assist with their investigations.
Police said: “Investigations have been ongoing but we are yet to identify the person in the image.”
Anyone with information should contact Lincolnshire Police on 101 or via email at [email protected] quoting incident 275 of 21/01/2021 or crime number 21000047726.
COVID-19 testing in Lincolnshire is being scaled back as part of government plans to expand home testing as children return to school.
The testing sites at the Lincolnshire Showground, and in Boston and Skegness, have started opening for half a day in order for parents and others to collect home-testing kits during a second session in the afternoon following a deep clean.
Health bosses are now also looking at how these changes will impact on rapid testing sites.
Under government plans for the return to school, young people have to take tests twice a week, with parents and carers also being asked to do the same.
Professor Derek Ward said: “We don’t want them go into the same place that people who have got symptoms are getting their normal PCR tests at the same time.
“So the government changed our fixed sites that we’ve got – the two regional sites one in Lincoln, one in Boston, and another one in Skegness.
“If you think you’ve got a symptom, you book yourself in a test you’ll be going in the morning, then at lunchtime they close and do a deep clean
“In the afternoon they open up again, but only to allow people who haven’t got any symptoms to go and pick up their lateral flow testing kits.”
Home testing kits will include two packs per person and will aim to last for seven weeks.
Professor Ward said bosses were in talks about where more sites could go in the next couple of weeks to increase coverage across the county.
“Our plan is to make sure that people will be in around within around five miles of somewhere that they can go and pick up a kit,” he said.
A cricket clothing and equipment company born in Australia has expanded into the UK and established its headquarters in North Hykeham.
TNF Cricket was founded in Australia 10 years ago and has been providing cricket apparel to the UK market for four years.
It has now launched Tails Never Fails UK, with the new facility at the Leafbridge business park on Station Road in North Hykeham acting as its office and shop/warehouse.
The cricket clothing and equipment company born expanded into Lincoln in 2021.
It is solely online at the moment, but the shop is expected to open later this year.
Although it specialises in the manufacture of cricket products, TNF also produce merchandise and apparel for football, rugby, hockey and several other sports.
It also caters for the corporate apparel market and is working with local cricket clubs including Lindum, Gully Crickters, Market Rasen and Horncastle.
Tails Never Fails UK is working with local cricket clubs including Lindum. TNF’s Will Taylor (left) in action for Lindum, alongside Jack McLagan. | Photo: Andrew Scott
Michael Sheedy, Managing Director of Tails Never Fails, said: “For us to now have an HQ in the UK is a massive step for our brand and our growing base of TNF followers.
“We are now ‘local’ – we have a home! We have UK based staff that are hungry for opportunities across a variety of sports and are passionate about exceeding customer service levels that sporting clubs are not used to in the UK market.”
The launch of TNF UK also comes with the appointments of Will Taylor as the new General Manager and Gareth Davies as Head of Sales and Business Development.
Will has been involved with the company since 2018, but has now joined on a full-time basis.
Will Taylor, General Manager at TNF UK, outside the company’s new headquarters in North Hykeham, Lincoln.
Will said: “When the opportunity came along for me to work for TNF, it was something I simply could not turn down. It’s not every day you get the chance to mix one of your biggest passions in life with your day-to-day work and I am extremely grateful to Michael for the opportunity to do so.
“He, with the aid of a highly skilled team, has built a fantastic brand and service over recent years which the UK market has been lacking for some time, so it’s really exciting to have the chance to contribute on a full-time basis.”
Gareth Davies, Head of Sales and Business Development and TNF UK.
Gareth added: “I am very excited to be a part of TNF. I have known Michael for eight years now and experienced the business first-hand out in Australia. To be a part of such an exciting time for TNF here in the UK is amazing.
“I believe there is a big gap in the market for sublimated apparel in the UK and the processes and commitments TNF are delivering will certainly change the face of the market.”
Whatsapp
