Ex-councillor launches petition for Louth and Grantham A&Es to be restored
It follows a first-hand experience
Pauline Palmer started the petition after she and a close family member both experienced being transferred away from Louth Urgent Care Centre. | Image: Supplied
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.”
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An independent county councillor in Boston has been named as the new chairman of Lincolnshire County Council.
Councillor Alison Austin was elected into the role at the annual general meeting of the full council on Friday, May 20, along with new vice chairman Councillor Robert Reid.
Councillor Austin has served as an independent county ward member for Boston South since May 2013, winning re-election on May 6, 2021.
She will be supported in her role throughout the term by her husband and chairman’s consort, Richard Austin.
Councillor Austin said: “I feel immensely honoured and privileged to be elected as chairman of the county council. I’ve always held a strong sense of community service, and I will continue promoting positive change across Lincolnshire as chairman.
“Amongst my first duties, will be participating in the Platinum Jubilee celebrations. This will be a great opportunity to not only recognise the achievements of our longstanding monarch, but also to give communities the opportunity to come together and mark a return to normality after a difficult couple of years.
“As part of moving on from COVID, I want to focus on the future during my time in office. I look forward to supporting the training and development of residents county-wide. We need to ensure we have a highly skilled workforce so that we can attract and retain businesses in Lincolnshire.”
As part of her duties, Councillor Austin has selected homeless and vulnerable people charity Centrepoint Outreach as one of her chosen organisations to support during her time in office.
She has been a volunteer at Centrepoint Outreach for several years and will continue to support the organisation in this new role.
A Grantham man who failed to comply with the requirements of a Sex Offenders order by not disclosing a new bank account to the police was today (Tuesday) given a suspended jail sentence.
Mark Foulston, 29, of Commercial Road, was given a suspended prison sentence of 12 months custody suspended for two years at Lincoln Crown Court in January 2020 for breaching the terms of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
However, in February 2021 Foulston opened a new NatWest bank account and received a debit card but failed to give the details to the police or probation service, which he was obliged to do within three days.
Lincoln Crown Court heard the failure only came to light in September 2021 when Foulston confided in a support worker on the same day he appeared before Judge Simon Hirst for a second breach of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Thomas Welshman, prosecuting, said Foulston also received a replacement bank card in July 2021 which he failed to tell the authorities about.
Foulston was voluntarily interviewed by the police after making the admission to his support worker, and admitted there were three occasions on which he could have informed the authorities about his new bank account.
He pleaded guilty to an offence of failing to comply with a notification requirement.
Mr Welshman said Foulston’s failure to comply with the terms of his order had occurred over several months.
Hal Ewing, mitigating, said Foulston had been suffering mental health problems during 2021 and had sought help from both the Crisis Team and a clairvoyant.
Mr Ewing told the court Foulston found the assistance of the clairvoyant helpful and told the authorities he left his last address because it had “bad spirits.”
The court heard Foulston had an IQ of under 70 and was also dyslexic.
“He thinks in a different way to most people,” Mr Ewing explained. “He knew he had to tell the police, but he didn’t.”
Mr Ewing added Foulston was “desperate to avoid jail,” and now had support from his father who was present in court.
“He hopes soon to get new accommodation, start a college course and learn to drive.”
Passing sentence Judge Simon Hirst told Foulston he did not accept that he did not know what he was doing when he failed to notify the authorities.
“On the last occasion we met I told you to bring a bag for prison,” Judge Hirst warned Foulston.
“I can’t imagine I will give you another chance.”
Foulston was sentenced to ten months imprisonment suspended for two years, a two year community order and must complete 100 hours unpaid work.
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