12-week public consultation starts on new plans to close Grantham A&E department

Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group has started a 12-week public consultation on new plans to permanently downgrade the A&E unit to an urgent treatment centre - more than five years after a campaign to keep it open 24 hours a day started.

It could lead to critically ill patients needing to travel more than 20 miles to be treated for issues like heart attacks.

They're also proposing changes to orthopaedic surgery, stroke services, and acute medical beds at Grantham and District Hospital. It is part of the biggest public consultation to date.However, campaigners say it is the proposed changes to the A&E department which needs the most attention.

Melissa  Darcey, from Fighting for life Lincolnshire, believes the urgent treatment service is not better than what was in place before the A&E closure.

Between March 2020 and June this year, the former A&E building was being used as an urgent treatment centre as hospital bosses tried to contend with Covid-19.

The changes were said to be temporary, but bosses now said they want to make them permanent. It would mean the building would be open 24 hours a day as an urgent treatment centre for the patents calling in from the 111 service.

As it stands, it is an A&E service that only opens during the daytime, between 8.00am and 6.30pm.

Bosses say it is because there aren't enough middle grade doctors to staff the department around the clock. Dr Yvonne Owen, of the Lincolnshire Community Health Service, said the changes will make it more sustainable.

''You could argue that it is a change in name only, but the reality is, the way that urgent treatment centres operate is that they are more about the holistic health approach.''

No set decision has been made on the future of the &E department but bosses say the 12 week consultation period is a chance to have a say.

Dr Dave Baker, GP and Clinical Lead at the CCG said there needs to be ''modernisation'' and changes to the services don't ''always meet standards or performance targets'' but urged the community to get involved.

“We know that some of our services cannot stay as they are, because they don’t always meet safety standards or performance targets, they are inefficient or we struggle to staff them sufficiently.''

“We all now need to embrace the idea of changing and modernising to bring about better outcomes for our patients and better services, that are safely staffed and high performing.''