June 29, 2018 3.33 pm This story is over 68 months old

No Grantham A&E decision until STP is published

Future of Grantham hangs on STP publication

Health bosses said that no decision will be made on the future of Grantham A&E until a plan for a major shakeup of NHS services in Lincolnshire is published.

Members of the United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust board said at a meeting today (June 29) that no plans will be made on the service until the long awaited Lincolnshire Sustainability and Transformation Plan is unveiled.

But Senior Responsible Officer for the Lincolnshire STP, John Turner, said that there will be no plan published until 2019.

The A&E service at Grantham was controversially closed at night by the trust back in August 2016.

Grantham & District Hospital. Photo: United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust

Mark Brassington, Chief Operating Officer at ULHT, said that how urgent and emergency care is delivered in the region should be addressed first.

He said: “We have been clear with our plans in regards to Grantham A&E and always wished to open the service if we could do.

“We had a review at the end of last year who advised us that because of our ongoing staffing challenges that we should not look to open Grantham A&E overnight in the short term.

“The long term solution for how we deliver urgent and emergency care in Lincolnshire should be answered first before we look to change any of the current services that we have running.”

The news comes as a minor injures unit trial at Grantham hospital, which was put in place following the closure of the overnight A&E, is currently under review by South West Lincolnshire CCG.

A public consultation on the unit ended yesterday.

The CCG said that the trial of the service “does not appear to have been successful.”

Lincolnshire County Council leader, Martin Hill, said he was “very disappointed” to hear that the minor injuries unit had been placed under review.