Consultations over changes to NHS services in Newark and Scunthorpe could impact Grantham residents, says hospital campaigner and councillor
Two current consultations to change NHS services could negatively affect Grantham residents, says a hospital campaigner.
South Kesteven District Councillor Charmaine Morgan, chair of SOS Grantham Hospital, has warned that plans to change or reduce the opening hours at Newark Hospital's Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) and to “downgrade” acute services at Scunthorpe A&E could impact local residents.
Coun Morgan said: “Two key NHS Consultations are underway which could negatively affect residents and visitors in our county and district.”
The Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board is consulting over proposed changes to the opening hours of Newark Hospital’s UTC.
Coun Morgan said that Grantham Hospital’s A&E is “already an overflow for Newark patients”, adding that “the gradual downgrade of Grantham A&E to a UTC is already affecting us”.
Visitors and residents of Newark can respond to the consultation, which can be found here.
Meanwhile, NHS Humber & North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board is consulting on proposals that Coun Morgan says will see the A&E acute services at Scunthorpe “downgraded”, with more acute patients being referred to Grimsby.
Coun Morgan said: “The explanation provided is virtually identical to that used by United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust and Lincs CCG when they downgraded A&E services at Grantham and referred our most acute patients to Lincoln and elsewhere.”
The details for Grantham’s UTC are still yet to be fully published, with the town’s hospital still currently operating a limited hours A&E.
Coun Morgan continued: “This is hugely concerning. Acute care on our county’s east coast is non-existent despite millions of seasonal visitors a year.
“Critically ill and A&E patients in this coastal area have to go to Boston, Lincoln or Scunthorpe for help. They may get transferred to Grimsby.
“Lincoln A&E is already struggling to cope with excessive waiting times being reported and will receive more patients from the east and north of the county, as well as Grantham and Newark in the west if these plans go ahead.
“I have liaised with NHS Keep Our NHS Public (KONP) campaigners in Nottingham who concur the loss of some acute services at Scunthorpe will have a knock on impact at Nottingham and Peterborough A&Es too. They have not been consulted to date. I have shared details with them.
“I will be writing to oppose these plans in my capacity as Chair SOS Grantham Hospital.
“Lincolnshire County Council Health Scrutiny Committee also has major concerns.
“We have been advised by LCC that the Health Scrutiny Committee is due consider the consultation document on November 8, and the Humber and Lincolnshire Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be meeting on October 17 in Scunthorpe, as the statutory consultee. LCC and the other four local authorities comprising the joint committee each have three representatives on this committee.
“There is no escaping the fact that this government has continued to oversee the decimation of our A&E network, implemented by Hospital Trusts, CCGs and ICBs, locally and nationally for years. There is little accountability in the NHS decision making process.
“In context, over 35 A&E units, the jewels of our NHS, have been lost in the last decade and the decline continues. The failure of the government to properly plan NHS staff and resources, combined with Covid-19, is putting our most sick, lower income, and most vulnerable elderly patients more and more at risk with few repercussions for those involved.
“Losing A&E units with associated emergency assessment unit staff and acute beds also undermines the viability of those district hospitals affected, and places yet more pressure on our emergency NHS hospital staff and ambulance services remaining.
“At the same time we are experiencing a significant population growth in our county and beyond and the loss of pharmacy services. There is no 24/7 pharmacy in Grantham now.”