On Thursday, I met Maz Fosh, Chief Executive of Lincolnshire Community Health Services Trust, as well as Tracy Pilcher, Director of Nursing. I raised my concern and disappointment at the decision to close Louth Hospital’s Urgent Treatment Centre on a number of nights recently and pushed for a commitment that work be done to prevent these issues from recurring.
The Trust apologised for the closures and assured me that they are working on recruiting the specialist staff required to man the UTC.
They gave me the promise that there are no plans to close the UTC and that the Trust is very much committed to Louth Hospital and see it as a critical part of our local healthcare infrastructure.
On a more constructive note, I discussed the suggestion of Lincolnshire’s next Community Diagnostic Centre being located in Louth and have agreed to work with the Trust to try and push on this with the local Clinical Commissioning Group.
The Trust also spoke about how they use 111 to triage patients to the most appropriate care, whether that is a visit to A&E, a UTC or a visit from one of their urgent care practitioners to the patient’s home, which could save a patient in pain a journey to hospital by bringing the care to them. This is particularly helpful for some of those most vulnerable patients.
I have asked for a follow up meeting in a month’s time to get an update on the progress being made on this, and will of course continue to keep constituents updated on any news I receive on this matter.
