January 5, 2021 5.13 pm This story is over 38 months old

Critical incident at Lincoln hospital stood down

Large patient numbers and staff shortages
| Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

A critical incident at Lincoln County Hospital caused by a large number of patients requiring admission and staff shortages has now been stood down.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) declared the critical incident during the night of Monday, January 4 and apologised to patients for the waits they faced.

On Tuesday morning, ULHT said it had 198 patients with coronavirus in Lincoln and Boston, and by the late afternoon it was able to stand down from the critical incident.

Mark Brassington, Deputy Chief Executive, said: “We unfortunately had to declare a critical incident at Lincoln County Hospital yesterday due to a surge in patients requiring admission and staffing shortages in some areas.

“Due to the outstanding efforts of our staff and partners across the system, the situation has improved over the course of today (Tuesday) and we have been able to stand down from the critical incident this afternoon.

“The public can help by ensuring they follow government guidelines to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and by ensuring they use the most appropriate NHS service for their condition.”

Patients are being advised to continue to attend appointments unless contacted directly.

There were rumours that the army was drafted in to help with staff shortages, but ULHT said “that was not the case.”