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A former town councillor has launched a renewed appeal to re-establish Louth and Grantham Hospitals as full A&E centres after she and her family experienced issues first-hand.

Pauline Palmer – who served on Mablethorpe and Sutton Town Council and whose husband Stephen Palmer sat at district and county level – has received more than 830 signatures on her change.org petition since setting it up at the beginning of January.

Mrs Palmer and a close family member have both experienced being transferred away from Louth Urgent Care Centre due to staff being unable to deal with their medical problems.

On November 26, Mrs Palmer suffered a bang on the head and several days later on December 3 went to Louth UCC after phoning 111.

Following several tests she was then passed on to Grimsby following concerns of a bleed on the brain. She spent more than five hours in A&E before being sent home with high blood pressure put down to anxiety.

Several weeks later on January 8, Mrs Palmer said she was “in immense pain” and her husband drove her to Pilgrim A&E where she was found to have a cyst in her neck and post-concussion syndrome.

An eight-hour stay in hospital later she was sent home with strong painkillers and diazapam for the spasm.

Louth Hospital. | Photo: ULHT

The day prior, on January 7, a close family member went to Louth UCC with an infection in their mouth causing intense swelling which had not been aided by a prescription from a doctor.

She was told initially to go to Lincoln Hospital but subsequently had to be sent on to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham for an urgent operation.

Mrs Palmer said the issues “highlight the pressure that Pilgrim and Grimsby are under, especially at present”.

“If they [Louth] were a fully-equipped A&E they would have been able to have done more for her, and me,” said Mrs Palmer.

If Louth and Grantham reopened as A&E hospitals there would be four in Lincolnshire, it would be less far for people close to those [areas] to travel but also it would take the pressure off of Boston and Lincoln.

She added, however:  “I cannot thank Pilgrim staff for their care on that day and I am back to full health now.”

Both Mrs Palmer and the family member had to rely on their partners to drive them to the hospitals.

“There’s no way you could do it with public transport, that’s just ridiculous.

“You have to have a car to be able to do it but I assume there’s a lot of people on the coast that don’t drive or have access to a car… they’d  have to rely on the voluntary car service or something where they have to pay. It’s just not practical distance-wise.”

Mrs Palmer suggested diverting funding to extend Louth and Grantham A&Es, rather than Boston.

She said both hospitals had enough space to accommodate extra staff and that facilities would be cheaper in the long-term.

She felt improvements to Louth and Grantham would help attract staff.

The Grantham Hospital Urgent Treatment Centre entrance. | Photo: Kylie Warrington for The Lincolnite

Last week Lincolnshire County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee said it had “serious concerns” about proposals for the future of local health services.

It agreed with the need for “significant and permanent” improvements to local services which ensured the “highest possible standards of patient care are provided giving the best possible outcomes for patients”.

However, it says three of the four proposals put forward by NHS Lincolnshire caused “serious concerns”.

Its concerns included the impact on people in the east of the county who would have to travel, possibly outside of the county, to access their nearest hospital.

Councillor Carl Macey, chairman of the heath scrutiny panel for Lincolnshire. Picture: Calvin Robinson.

In response to the petition, Clair Raybould, director of operations at NHS Lincolnshire CCG said: “As the petition is currently live it would not be appropriate for us to comment at this time.

“We will of course review and respond once any petition is submitted to NHS Lincolnshire CCG. We have recently completed a 12-week public consultation inviting people from across Lincolnshire to share their views on a range of NHS services, including urgent and emergency care services at Grantham and District Hospital.

“We are currently reviewing public feedback to ensure that it influences any decisions about the future of these NHS services.

“We do not comment on individual patient cases. We encourage anyone who has concerns about a service to contact the service provider’s Patient Advice and Liaison Service for the appropriate support.”

A Lincoln man who has lived with primary progressive multiple sclerosis for 15 years believes “everyone with MS deserves to be on a life-changing drug” like him.

The MS Society says an estimated 65,000 people are missing out on the chance to try the drug, fampridine, in England despite it being available on the NHS in Scotland and Wales.

Andy Ollier was first diagnosed with MS 15 years ago and his symptoms progressed rapidly from there. Multiple Sclerosis damages nerves in your body and can make it harder to do everyday things such as walking, talking, eating and thinking.

He was offered fampridine, which is a symptom management treatment that can help some people with MS significantly improve their walking ability. This was part of a trial at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham.

The 65-year-old has spoken out about the life-changing drug, while the MS Society has urgently called on NHS England, NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence), and the drug manufacturers Biogen to come together and “fix this injustice”.

Andy, who is a retired engineering lecturer, had been unable to walk even short distances without a stick. However, being on the drug for more than 10 years has had a completely transformative effect on his walking, energy levels and hand mobility.

Andy with his two grandchildren.

He said: “Often when you have progressive MS you’re left to your own devices with very little support. Fampridine is the only drug that I’ve been offered – it’s that or nothing.

“It’s fantastic that fampridine is available on the NHS in Scotland and Wales, but it’s baffling that it’s not routinely available in England. It’s such a shame that so many people who could benefit in England aren’t being given access.

“Everyone should have the option to try the drug and see if it works for them. It would really help a lot of people with MS to stay more active, which has huge benefits.”

He added: “I’m much steadier on my feet now, and can walk without concentrating or constantly worrying about tripping up. It has improved everything, not just walking, but the movement in my hands and fingers, and my fatigue.

“I have two new grandchildren, and being on fampridine will help give me the energy to do more things with them.”

Andy spending time with one of his two grandchildren.

Fredi Cavander-Attwood, policy manager at the MS Society, said: “Everyone with MS should have access to life-changing treatments, wherever they live.

“NICE’s initial decision to reject fampridine is deeply disappointing, but this isn’t the end of the road. Decision makers must realise the crucial difference that fampridine could make to the lives of people with MS.

“Together with Andy, we’re urgently calling for NICE, NHS England and the pharmaceutical company, Biogen, to work together to fix this injustice.”

The current NICE guideline for MS does not recommend fampridine for use on the NHS in England. In recently updated draft guidelines, NICE once again rejected fampridine for use on the NHS in England, but Andy and the MS Society want to change that as more than 130,000 people live with the condition in the UK.

NICE has now opened up a consultation on the new draft MS guideline and initial decision on fampridine, which closes on January 31. It will give people the opportunity to tell NICE why fampridine must be available on the NHS in England, ahead of them publishing the final guideline in June.

Andy’s specific situation is rare though as the guideline states that people who have already started treatment with the drug on the NHS should be able to continue until they and their NHS clinician think it appropriate to stop. However, this recommendation is not mandatory.

Building works to create new clinical and office spaces at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston are set to begin, pending approval from the council, as part of a multi-million pound project to build a new Emergency Department.

The new spaces mean some services and staff would relocate, making way for some buildings to be demolished for the new Emergency Department for Boston.

Funding for the transformation was announced back in August 2019 following a visit to Pilgrim Hospital by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Since then, work has taken place behind the scenes to finalise a design that works for staff and patients alike, with exciting plans on what the new department could bring to Boston’s healthcare sector.

The plans have been submitted to Boston Borough Council, seeking planning permission to allow the new department to more than double in size, offering more training rooms for staff, more cubicles to treat patients in, and introducing state of the art infection prevention measures.

As well as this, a separate area dedicated to providing emergency care for the youngest patients and their families has been drafted up in the plans, which will be sent to the Department of Health and Social Care for final approval if planning permission is granted by the council.

Andrew Morgan, chief executive of United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust, outside Number 10 Downing Street.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust chief executive, Andrew Morgan, said: “These enabling works can be started straight away and will mean that we can then relocate some of our administration teams and some services within the site.

“This will then allow us to clear and demolish the necessary areas adjacent to the existing Emergency Department so that it can be extended and transformed.

“By doing these enabling works now, it means that once all of the necessary permissions are in place, we will be in a position to hit the ground running on the multi-million-pound transformation of the new Emergency Department.”

In the meantime, scaffolding is due to go up around the four-storey building to the left of the main hospital, allowing it to be repurposed for additional clinical and office space.

This will include renovation of three floors, upgrades to infrastructure, and controlled removal of asbestos by a specialist company.