Grantham minor injuries service ‘set up to fail’

There have been 508 new coronavirus cases and 29 COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Wednesday.

The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 355 new cases in Lincolnshire, 72 in North Lincolnshire and 81 in North East Lincolnshire.

It also registered 17 deaths in Lincolnshire, two in North Lincolnshire and 10 in North East Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

It means there have been 13,011 cases so far this month and 325 deaths.

NHS England reported 12 local hospital deaths on Wednesday, including six at United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust, five at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust and one at Lincolnshire Community Health Service

On Wednesday, national cases increased by 18,213 to 1,557,007 while deaths rose by 696 to 56,533.

The national daily deaths figure is the highest since May.

Lincolnshire’s coronavirus cases up to November 25.

In local news today, a meeting of the Lincolnshire Coronavirus Outbreak Board agreed to pen a letter to government calling on responsibility for restrictions to be placed with the county’s public health department.

It comes after Boston and Skegness MP Matt Warman said his constituency area was “highly likely” to be placed into the toughest restrictions.

In the UK, scientists have warned of a third wave of COVID-19 after Christmas. It is feared that easing restrictions over the holiday period will result in rising cases of the virus and subsequently overwhelm the NHS.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has told MPs of the “economic emergency” the UK is in due to the coronavirus pandemic. In his Spending Review, Mr Sunak announced a public sector pay freeze, a cut to foreign aid spending and pay rises for over a million nurses, doctors and other NHS staff.

Lincoln man Andrew Weavers, known as Arnie, died in a Lincoln fishing lake this summer after taking drugs and drowning, an inquest heard.

Arnie, who was 27 when he died, had been out socialising with friends during the evening of August 12 and shortly before midnight he was part of a group of young people who gathered at Starmers Pit in Lincoln, located near Sainsbury’s supermarket.

During the early hours of August 13, Arnie joined other members of his group swimming. He did not appear to be in any distress and was seen to go under the water, but did not resurface, an inquest earlier this month heard.

The body of Arnie was recovered later that morning after underwater searches were carried out.

Police said at the time the death was not being treated as suspicious and an inquest was opened on August 28.

The inquest was then heard before HM Acting Senior Coroner Paul Smith at the Myle Cross Centre on November 13.

The coroner was told how Arnie consumed a modest amount of alcohol and also taken a quantity of both ketamine and cocaine.

The medical cause of death was confirmed at the inquest as asphyxia, drowning and ketamine misuse.

It was also noted in the record of inquest that “on the balance of probabilities his death was the unintended consequence of his decision to go swimming having consumed both drugs and alcohol”.

The conclusion of the coroner as to the death was misadventure.

Tributes poured in for Arnie after his death and a fundraiser to honour him raised over £2,900.

Over 800 staff are currently absent from Lincolnshire hospitals, with some staff redeployed and more bank and agency workers being used to help cope with the pressures during the coronavirus pandemic.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals confirmed that the staff are off work due to coronavirus and non-COVID-19 reasons.

ULHT also said on Wednesday, November 25 that it currently has 238 coronavirus patients.

Martin Rayson, Director of People and Organisational Development, said: “At present we have more than 800 members of staff from across our hospitals sites who are currently absent due to COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 reasons. This represents around 10% of our workforce.

“We are taking a range of actions to ensure safe staffing of our services, including redeploying staff where appropriate, increasing our use of our bank and agency staff, and asking colleagues to support by helping with non-clinical roles at both Lincoln and Pilgrim hospitals.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Morgan, chief executive at ULHT, told BBC Radio Lincolnshire on Wednesday morning that 71 coronavirus patients were discharged between November 19 to 24.

There were 25 deaths in the same period in ULHT’s hospitals.