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Lincolnshire health chiefs say lessons were learned from the Covid pandemic




Lincolnshire will be better prepared for a future pandemic than it was for coronavirus, health bosses have said.

The county’s preparations for possible emergencies were put under scrutiny by Lincolnshire County Council’s health committee on Wednesday (January 29).

The top three risks identified by the Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board (which organises the county’s healthcare) are another pandemic, a cyber attack, and other ‘malicious’ threats.

Rebecca Neno, deputy director for system delivery at NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board.
Rebecca Neno, deputy director for system delivery at NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board.

Health bosses told the committee that their emergency plans were complying well with NHS standards.

However, some councillors feared NHS systems “wouldn’t be able to cope” during a future crisis or catastrophe, pointing to its already-fragile state.

Councillor Mark Allan (Con) said: “[The NHS] struggles to deliver on a day-to-day basis, both in Lincolnshire and nationally.

“It doesn’t take us much to tip us over the edge into major incidents.

“If there is a terrorist event with lots of casualties or a pandemic with an unknown virus, we will be in the same position as before, regardless of plans.

“I worry that we just don’t have the capacity to cope.”

Rebecca Neno, the ICB’s deputy director for system delivery, agreed that systems were currently stretched but said they would respond more effectively.

“We are in a much better position than during Covid because we have learned so much,” she told the committee.

“But the next pandemic won’t look like Covid – we will have to respond to something much different.

“I am confident we will keep people safe, and do everything we can with resources we have.”

There will be a national exercise next year to test the NHS’s readiness for another pandemic.

Councillor Sarah Parkin (Ind) also raised the spectre of cyber attacks which had “obliterated” other organisations such as the British Library.

She said: “By the time you’ve learned the lessons, people are ready with something different.”

Lincolnshire’s healthcare system declared four ‘business continuity incidents’ in the 12 months up to August 2024, where resources had to be diverted to keep delivering services.

There were also three ‘critical incidents’, where certain services were unable to function.

One of these was an electrical failure, which meant hospitals were unable to provide stent treatment for hearts for 12 hours.

Rebecca Neno said they took incidents “incredibly seriously” and continued to learn from them.



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