A Grantham minor injuries unit trial was “set up to fail”, according to a senior county councillor.
Chair of the Health Scrutiny Panel for Lincolnshire, Councillor Carl Macey, said that the service was not “given the opportunity to work” after it was implemented by South West Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group.
The CCG introduced the unit following the closure of Grantham A&E overnight in August 2016.
Councillor Carl Macey, chair of the health scrutiny panel for Lincolnshire.
Now, Councillor Macey has called on health bosses at the CCG to defer a decision on the unit until the Lincolnshire Sustainability and Transformation Plan is published.
“From my point of view, we have seen that this service has not been well utilised,” he said.
“But we have also seen that there does not seem to have been any advertising or promotion, apart from initially when it opened.
“Therefore, I want to see that more promotion is given and that they actually give it the opportunity to work.”
Councillor Macey added that a decision should not be made until the Lincolnshire STP publish their plans for a shakeup of services in the county.
John Turner, Chief Executive of South West Lincolnshire CCG, said that commissioners will take into consideration the points made by members of the health scrutiny panel.
“We are looking very carefully at this,” he said.
“The committee made a number of points to us this afternoon and we will take those on board as we consider this matter.
“Clearly the CCG and the community trust were concerned at the time that with the restricted hours at Grantham A&E, we put this service in place with a view to try and support the local community.
“It was done with the best spirit and intentions and we will look very carefully at where we go now with it.”
The service was put in place for patients to use between 6.30pm and 11.30pm and is operated by Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust as part of the out of hours service based at the Kingfisher Unit at the hospital.
But commissioners have said that the unit has only seen on average five patients a month over the last year, costing £130,000 a month.
Meanwhile, Fighting For Grantham Hospital campaigner, Jody Clark, said that it would be “wrong” to remove the service.
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A man charged with endangering the safety of an aircraft which killed footballer Emiliano Sala and Lincolnshire pilot David Ibbotson after a crash in 2019 crash faces a two-week trial starting today.
The wreckage of a Piper Malibu N264DB aircraft carrying both the pilot and footballer was found in the English Channel in February 2019, after the plane crashed north of Guernsey.
Sala, 28 was on his way to Cardiff City after a £15 million transfer had been agreed with French club Nantes in January 2019, but the plane crash cost him his life.
Emiliano Sala pictured with Cardiff’s CEO and executive director Ken Choo after joining the Welsh club. | Photo: Cardiff City FC
The pilot, 59-year-old David Ibbotson from Crowle in North Lincolnshire, also died in the crash, but unlike Sala, his body was not recovered.
David Henderson, 66, from East Riding in Yorkshire, will appear at Cardiff Crown Court on Monday for a two-week trial after being accused of attempting to discharge a passenger without valid permission or authorisation.
Mr Henderson pleaded not guilty in October 2020, and a jury inquest into Ibbotson’s death has been postponed until February 2022, to allow for the trial to conclude.
Missing North Lincolnshire Pilot David Ibbotson. | Photo: GoFundMe page
The Air Accidents Investigations Branch conducted a report into the incident, and found David Ibbotson had likely been affected by carbon monoxide poisoning, and that he was flying too fast for the plane’s design limits.
Investigators stated that he had no training in night flying, and held a private licence that did not allow him to conduct flights for reward.
Cycling star Ben Swift retained his national road race title on the final day of the 2021 National Road Championships in Lincoln on Sunday.
The Team Ineos Grenadiers rider fought hard all day in numerous breakaway groups to secure another year in the famous red, white and blue jersey, having first won the crown in Norwich in 2019.
Fred Wright and Ethan Hayter took second and third place respectively. A total of 129 riders started the men’s race including the three previous winners Mark Cavendish, Connor Swift and, this year’s winner Ben Swift.
Ben Swift won the men’s road race. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Cycling legend Mark Cavendish in action during Sunday’s road race. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Mark Cavendish took part in Sunday’s race. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Wright did however win the Under-23 men’s race, with Lewis Askey and Leo Hayter finishing in second and third respectively – the full results can be found here.
Swift, who won the men’s elite race, said: “I was really looking forward to the race, I’ve enjoyed my time for sure in this jersey. It gives you that extra motivation for sure, it was something that I really wanted to keep and luckily, I’ve got another eight months in it.”
Pfeiffer Georgi (centre) won the elite women’s race, with Josie Nelson (left) and Joscelin Lowden (right) finishing in second and third place respectively. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Pfeiffer Georgi won the elite women’s race. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Pfeiffer Georgi won the elite women’s race earlier in the day, coming from a strong 12-rider group that went clear on the first ascent of the Michaelgate climb. Josie Nelson and Joscelin Lowden finished in second and third place respectively.
Georgi also won the Under-23 women’s race, with Nelson once again finishing second and Anna Shackley took third place.
She said: “I honestly can’t believe it. I was just crossing the line shaking my head. Just realising that I get to wear the [national champions] jersey for a year, that was pretty special.”
Fred Wright (centre) won the men’s Under-23 race with Lewis Askey (left) and Leo Hayter (right) finishing in second and third respectively. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Pfeiffer Georgi (centre) won the Under-23 women’s race, with Josie Nelson (left) and Anna Shackley (right) finishing in second and third place respectively. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Action from the road race on the final day of the 2021 National Road Championships. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
The first event was the time trial and took place in Tealby on Thursday, October 14. Brothers Ethan and Leo Hayter took both the elite and under-23 titles respectively, while Anna Henderson and Anna Shackley were also crowned national champions – see the time trial results here.
Friday’s focus was the circuit race with Lincoln’s Jo Tindley securing a solo victory, while Ethan Hayter claimed his second title in as many days following his win in the time trial.
The National Championship Sportive and Newells Michaelgate Hill Dash were held on Saturday, October 18.
Calum Brown won the men’s event at the Michaelgate Hill Dash with Monica Greenwood taking the women’s title. The Junior Men’s and Women’s event were won by Samuel Howes and Shona Mosley respectively. The Youth Men’s and Women’s events were won by Callum Evans and Georgia Lancaster respectively.
Dan Ellmore, from Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix, told The Lincolnite: “We are incredibly pleased with how the events ran this weekend and the huge support received from the city in terms of sponsorship to make the events happen and the crowds out cheering the riders on.
“We have TV highlights on Monday [October 18] at 7pm on ITV4 for the Circuit Race and Time Trials then ITV4 at 7pm on Tuesday for the Road Races and this will be a great advert for the city. The event is estimated to bring in close to £2 million to the city in economic terms.”
There were 5,589 cases of coronavirus in Greater Lincolnshire last week as the government is reportedly looking to open walk-in vaccine clinics for younger teens.
The figure is 14% higher than the 4,906 cases at the same point last week. There have been 1,514 new cases since Friday evening.
The latest government data also shows there have been 15 deaths of Lincolnshire residents – up from 11 last week – and six deaths reported at Greater Lincolnshire’s hospitals – the same as last week.
The latest COVID stats for Lincolnshire are:
1,514 new cases of coronavirus in Greater Lincolnshire with 1,158 in Lincolnshire, 165 in North East Lincolnshire and 191 in North Lincolnshire
Three further deaths were recorded in the government figures including one Lincolnshire and two North Lincolnshire residents
Hospital data is not updated over the weekend
National media has reported this weekend that plans to stem rising COVID-19 rates in the coming weeks could include walk-in vaccination clinics for 12 to 15-year-olds.
On Sunday, the overall data recorded 45,140 new Covid cases – the highest daily number since the middle of July – and 57 new deaths within 28 days of a positive test.
It comes as the latest data shows almost half of new Covid cases in England are now in the under-20s.
However, just 14.2% of that age group have taken up the vaccination in England.
Lincolnshire’s coronavirus cases up to October 15. | Image: GOV.uk
In Lincolnshire, the figure is higher at 25.4%, while in North East Lincolnshire it is 22.5%, and in North Lincolnshire it is 19.5%.
Elsewhere, a Welsh university has been successfully challenged over changes it made to courses and told to refund fees to some of its students.
The University of Wales Trinity St David was told to apologise after 13 of its students complained, according to the BBC.
The pupils had started art and design courses in September 2020 but some lessons were replaced by online modules.
They said they had not been given notice of the changes which saw some modules replaced by more general modules focused on employability and digital skills instead of course-specific content.
Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Sunday, October 17
127,863 cases (up 1,514)
84,535 in Lincolnshire (up 1,158)
21,099 in North Lincolnshire (up 165)
22,229 in North East Lincolnshire (up 165)
2,376 deaths (up three)
1,737 from Lincolnshire (up one)
327 from North Lincolnshire (up two)
312 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)
of which 1,426 hospital deaths (no change)
875 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (no change)
44 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
506 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (no change)
DATA SOURCE — FIGURES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF THE LATEST UPDATE. POSTCODE DATA INCLUDES DEATHS NOT IN HEALTHCARE FACILITIES OR IN HOSPITALS OUTSIDE AUTHORITY BOUNDARIES.
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