The coronavirus pods at Lincoln County Hospital. Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Another person came forward to The Lincolnite to tell of their experience in the coronavirus pods at Lincoln County Hospital. This second case told us that one of the doctors allegedly told her not to mention her possible COVID-19 infection in order to obtain an inhaler.
Below is the woman’s account in her own words, slightly edited and anonymised.
“I had a temperature of 39.5C, my dry cough had worsened and I had developed shortness of breath. I went on the NHS direct website and it just tells you to self isolate, no further support. I phoned my GP and asked if they could prescribe an inhaler (I have mild asthma and don’t use an inhaler regularly as I haven’t needed to). My GP advised me to call 111, so I spent my whole morning fruitlessly trying to get through.
“I phoned the GP back and the on-call doctor advised that I go to the coronavirus pods at Lincoln County Hospital to be assessed and they can issue an inhaler. The pod is an empty cabin with a chair and phone. The pod smelled strongly of fresh paint and caught in my throat. There was no hand sanitiser in the pod.
“You are instructed to phone 111. I phoned the number, actually got through quite quickly, was advised to self isolate. I reiterated why I’d been sent to the pod, she spoke to her manager and I was advised to call the hospital switchboard.
“When the pod attendant checked on me, he said the advice I’d been given was incorrect. He left to get a second opinion.
“Someone new came to the pod and asked if I’d phoned 111 yet. She didn’t know my history. I explained everything to her. She asked me my name – the first person to do so – and wrote it on the back of her hand in biro… at least I’ll be able to tell if she is washing her hands properly, I thought.
“Despite explaining who sent me and what I was there for, the new person seemed to not understand me at all. She said (paraphrasing a little) “you’re not on the floor with your breathing, that’s when I’d send someone to help you” and “I have asthma too, you know,” and “they haven’t made a cure for coronavirus if that’s what you’re here for,” as a way of justifying why she clearly thought I was a time waster, a hypochondriac and an idiot. She left after that.
“The first person never returned and there was no follow up to his query about calling the hospital switchboard. I continued to wait.
“Finally a doctor came in. He was the first person to be wearing a mask. He didn’t know my name, didn’t know my history. I explained everything again. He said I could get an inhaler but would need to be logged into the system to obtain a prescription through the hospital pharmacy.
“He advised me to walk into A&E reception, tell them that my asthma had returned, I couldn’t see my GP and I needed an inhaler. He told me very directly not to tell them my history or that I’d been sent there from the coronapod. In his view, without any checks or tests, I was not a coronavirus risk.
“By this point I had been in the pod for 2 hours with each interaction taking 5-10 minutes.
“Bewildered, I went to A&E and the first question the receptionist asked on arrival was do I have a temperature. I don’t do lying, so said yes, she checked my temperature immediately and told me to go to the pod. I was so glad that she was taking her job seriously. I think I was a second from bolting out of the door anyway, as I knew his advice was irresponsible but he’d said it with such authority, it brokered no argument.
“I didn’t return to the pod. I cried, out of frustration and exhaustion, and I went home.
“As I’d tried to express to the health care professionals, surely it would have been better to provide me with an inhaler as a preventative measure, rather than risk my breathing getting worse and being admitted to hospital? Why wasn’t the doctor able to book me in and arrange a prescription from the pod? Why oh why did he try to fob me off to A&E? And why was he so complacent about the risk of me going into the hospital? What is the purpose of the coronavirus pods?
“The government have declared that now we’re in the delay phase they’re only testing people in hospital, not even those in the coronavirus pods. Anyone with a dry cough and/or a fever, for any reason are effectively on their own unless they become so seriously ill that they need to be admitted to hospital. There is no attempt at diagnosis or treatment, or even recording you exist.”
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Lincolnshire Police will recruit a further 60 officers next year if a council tax increase between 20p to 26p a week can be agreed.
This recruitment in the 2021/22 financial year will be in addition to 54 new officer posts already planned.
This is part of new projects identified by Chief Constable Chris Haward and Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones, which will be approved if the council tax rise is agreed.
PCC Jones is proposing the rise to help pay for various measures designed to improve community safety.
The proposed rise accounts for 5.9% of the policing element of council tax, which will deliver an additional £2.9 million in funding.
This is the proposed council tax for 2021/22 per band.
The list of priorities identified includes the following:
A new team dedicated to fighting crime and saving lives on the county’s roads
The establishment of specialist teams to drive down community crime in both rural and urban areas
More tasers for frontline officers
An increase in armed response units to tackle violent crime
Investment in new technology to give better public access
This comes just days after the results of the PCC’s annual survey, which was completed by 3,243 people.
Some 87% agreed they were prepared to pay more council tax. 77% of people said they were prepared to pay 10% more.
In every council district more than a third said they were willing to pay a 20% increase.
Mr Jones said: “The outcome of the research is at odds with my personal feelings that given the current challenging situation for the personal finances of many in our community even a modest rise of around £1 a month would be too much to ask.
“I have, however, made no secret in previous years that I would respect the outcome of these robust consultations and so I cannot, in all conscience, choose to ignore it this year.
“The public have spoken. They have said no to a freeze in council tax and a reduction in policing and officer numbers and yes to a pound or so a month increase as long as it’s directed to frontline policing.”
He added that Lincolnshire Police remains one of the lowest funded police forces in the country.
Chris Haward, who replaced Bill Skelly as Chief Constable in December last year, said violent crime and low force morale will take priority in 2021.
Scrutiny councillors at East Lindsey District Council have called a 3.49% rise in council tax in 2021-22 “small” and trivial, hitting out at historical decisions not to increase rates.
The authority’s plans will see the council’s precept rise by £4.95 a year – an extra 9.5p on a Band D property.
ELDC remains one of the lowest rates in the county and its precept makes up 8% of the overall bill, with the rest going to county council, the drainage boards and police and crime commissioner.
At a meeting of the council’s overview committee on Tuesday, Councillor Jill Makinson-Sanders said: “3% on a small amount is footling really, percentages don’t mean a huge amount really do they?”
“The claim that we’re the cheapest place in the East Midlands was pathetic really, it doesn’t matter. If people need the services we need to charge for them.”
“We did start from a low base and we do have to be grown up about it, things are costing more money and if we want those services, we have to pay for them don’t we?”
She, and other councillors, called for the breakdown of where council tax goes to be made clearer – particularly around how much went to the local drainage boards.
Committee Chairman Councillor Fiona-Martin said a number of years without percentage increases “didn’t actually do us any favours”.
“Once you have the end of the day, in some stages you then have a rather large increase because you’ve got so far behind everybody else and you can’t deliver services without the resources to do so,” she said.
Council bosses say the 2021-22 budget looks at redressing the imbalance created by the COVID-19 pandemic and focuses on the economic recovery.
Council officer Adrian Sibley told councillors that one saving grace for the authority this year included a delay in the fairer funding review for a year, meaning any predicted shortfalls from that could be carried over into the next year and further savings can be found in the meantime.
Councillor Richard Fry, finance portfolio holder for ELDC said: “We all know we are still have been and still going through challenging times and so, this is not a normal budget at all. What we’re focusing on pretty much at the heart of this project is economic recovery.”
The budget includes extra income from commercial activities, ongoing savings from reduced spending on supplies and services as well as the new Strategic Alliance and increased capital investment in council assets.
Boston Borough Council has also approved an almost £5 council tax hike for 2021/22, but are looking at a deficit of £700,000 in future years.
South Holland also going for £4.95 (2.75%), South Kesteven going for a round £5 (3.06%) and Lincoln increasing by £5.31 (1.9%).
Lincolnshire County Council accepted a 1.99% rise, but declined to take an extra 3% for its adult social care precept. However, North East Lincolnshire has so far had no issues with taking the full 4.98% rise.
The Police and Crime Commissioner is seeking to hike his share of tax by 5.9% (20-26p extra per week).
Boston Borough Council has approved an almost £5 council tax hike for 2021/22, but are looking at a deficit of £700,000 in future years.
There will be £98,000 surplus for next year due to coronavirus postponing the fair funding review. Band D properties in Boston will go from £192.96 to £197.91, a 2.57% rise.
This amounts to a 9p per week increase for band D properties and a 6p per week rise for Band A properties, bringing a return to the council of around £100,000 a year.
Section 151 Officer Adrian Sibley said: “We are looking at a £98,000 surplus for next year, which means that we’re collecting more income, and we’ll have more fees and charges and government grants than what we’ll be spending.
“It’s largely because the coronavirus has pushed the fair funding review down the road another year.”
“The fair funding review is where the government looks at how it allocates funds to each council, and it looks like there will be a shift from districts and borough councils to county councils and unitaries in the future years because that’s where the demands and pressures are on public finances at the moment, particularly in terms of Adult Social Care and Children’s Services.”
He added: “It looks like that will turn into a deficit of around about £700,000, so we’ll have to find that money in future years.”
“It could have been a lot worse than this and some councils up and down the country are in an extremely perilous financial position, and this council isn’t in that position, it’s in a fairly healthy position.”
The Audit & Governance Committee on Monday evening.
Proposals were made for a 0% increase on council tax for the borough.
Cllr Anne Dorrian said: “I think the residents of Boston need a break. And I think that it’s in our gift to give them a break. And that break should be no council tax increase at all this year.”
She added: “We have many residents who are very low waged. And I feel very strongly that when we’ve got the opportunity to support them, that’s what they elected us to do. It’s not a PR exercise, please don’t think that. It’s a genuine plea from me for the more vulnerable people in our society.”
“I think this would give people a real genuine mental health boost.”
Cllr Thomas Ashton said: “I believe it would be greatly irresponsible of us to make that £700,000 deficit next year an £800,000 deficit.”
Proposals for a 0% increase for 2021/22 fell with seven out of 10 voting to approve the council tax increase.
Lincolnshire County Council accepted a 1.99% rise, but declined to take an extra 3% for its adult social care precept. However, North East Lincolnshire has so far had no issues with taking the full 4.98% rise.
The Police and Crime Commissioner is seeking to hike his share of tax by 5.9% (20-26p extra per week).
The Boston budget proposals will go to consultation and full council before April.
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