Reflections 2021: Andrew Morgan – A tough year for Lincolnshire hospitals

It has been another incredibly tough year for everyone due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

But I want to say a big thank you to all of our incredible staff, volunteers, patients, and everyone in the community for their ongoing support and co-operation. Without this we wouldn’t be able to make it through these difficult times.

Our staff have gone to unprecedented lengths to look after our patients, day in and day out, and I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say we are extremely grateful for this.

I want to recognise and thank all of the teams, wards and departments not only across United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, but across the entire health and social care system in the county, for everything they are continuing to do.

As an NHS we have made incredible progress this year in the delivery of the vaccine programme and it has been amazing to see the way teams have pulled together to ensure everyone has been able to receive their vaccines. This includes those vaccinating our NHS and social care colleagues so that they can continue to do their jobs and care for the people of Lincolnshire.

I have had my two COVID vaccines, my booster and also my flu vaccine. This is not only to protect myself, but also my loved ones, my colleagues, our patients and also the NHS. I strongly urge everyone to take up the offer and get vaccinated.

We need to keep working together. The ‘hands, face, space, fresh air’ guidance, is as important now as it has ever been. We all need to abide by the government guidelines and the extra safety precautions we have in place at our hospitals. Sadly, there is still a way to go and we cannot afford to become complacent.

Although we have a difficult winter ahead of us, we also have lots of exciting opportunities and ongoing projects to make improvements across our sites.
• The transformation of Lincoln County Hospital emergency department is well under way.
• Plans are progressing at speed for Pilgrim Hospital Boston emergency department.
• Plans are in place to install new theatres at Grantham and District Hospital.
• We have also seen lots of new high tech investments over the course of the last year, such as investment in our x-ray and other diagnostic services.

For 2022 I want to be able to say we have got through the worst of the pandemic and that life will have gone back to some sort of normality, but with the emerging variant there is a lot of uncertainty at the moment. What I do know is that the teams at ULHT will continue to work their hardest to deliver the best care to the people of Lincolnshire.

I wish everyone a happy Christmas and a healthy New Year.