13.12.17
Lincolnshire hospital considers reopening night services despite review recommendation
Grantham and District Hospital bosses will meet to discuss ending restrictions on overnight opening hours despite a review suggesting they remain closed.
Board members at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) put forward plans to reopen services between 6.30pm and 8.00am last month, but NHS Improvement asked the East of England Clinical Senate to undertake a safety review first.
The review, published this week, recommended that the hospital remain closed during those hours, although board members will meet this week to discuss the full findings and make a final decision.
Initially, the decision to close the hospital overnight was made in August 2016 due to a shortage of the middle-grade doctors necessary to properly staff the facility.
“The quality and safety of care is always our top priority, and so our board will consider the full range of recommendations made by the Clinical Senate to ensure that we do the best for our patients,” said Dr Neill Hepburn, medical director at ULHT.
“We understand this is a frustrating time for our staff and patients in the Grantham area, and we do remain committed to Grantham hospital, but we will only provide services that are safe.”
The review found that there had been no reported harm as a result of the closure and that the situation was still not safe in spite of a recent recruitment drive by the trust.
In August this year, the providers announced that it would be forced to continue the night-time closures but would be looking at trying to reopen within the next three months.
ULHT was one of the 11 trusts put in special measures after Sir Bruce Keogh’s 2013 review. It then fell back into that state in April after a 2016 review.
While the trust had a ’good’ rating for being caring, it scored as ‘requires improvement’ for the effectiveness and responsiveness of its services and fell to ‘inadequate’ for safety and good leadership.