Health plan ‘not good enough’ says county council leader

The proposed blueprint for future health and care services in Lincolnshire has come under fire from the county council.

Lincolnshire County Council’s executive board has issued a formal response to the Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) produced by Lincolnshire Health and Care and is strongly critical of the document, which proposes radical changes to the way health services are delivered in the county.

County council leader Coun Martin Hill said: “Although we accept and understand the rationale for change within health services in the county, the executive has serious concerns that the proposals in the current STP will not improve services for everyone.

“We also agree that money needs to be spent on better facilities, following years of under-investment in our hospitals. However, it is entirely unclear as to where the money for this would come from or if it’s even available.”

Among the raft of changes being proposed by Lincolnshire Health and Care in the STP, the potential downgrading of Grantham’s A&E has produced an angry response locally.

Coun Hill added: “We believe the STP needs to be clear in its intent to deliver better services for everyone. It is not evident in the draft as to how the removal of services and facilities such as those identified will make this possible.

“Indeed it is all too possible to identify communities or categories of patients for whom it may well make things worse. For services as critical as these, ‘better, by and large’ is not good enough.”

Mr Hill has previously stated he believes a county the size of Lincolnshire needs 24-hour emergency cover at all three of its main hospitals at Lincoln, Boston and Grantham.

He added: “The proposals are reliant on an efficient and effective ambulance service delivering patients to the best location – we are not confident that this is the case and do not see the issue addressed in the current proposal.”