Health

A brand new public swimming pool facility for Spalding is being looked at as part of improvements in leisure facilities across the district, it’s been claimed. South Holland District Council is “looking at replacing” its facilities which includes the Castle Sports Complex and Peele Leisure Centre in Long Sutton. Coun Angela Newton asked the cabinet at its meeting on Tuesday ...

With continued rainfall causing more problems, South Holland District Council has urged people to wear “adequate footwear”. The council said in an online notice that with reports of sewage rising in South Holland, people should wear adequate footwear when wading through standing water. SHDC officers are currently at Battlefields Lane in Holbeach, which has flooded. A spokesman said: “Our officers ...

Stroke and some breast cancer services are proposed to be moved from Pilgrim Hospital in Boston to new central hubs in Lincoln due to concerns over staff shortages, reports to a health committee reveal. It’s despite concerns that some stroke victims would be outside ‘the golden hour’ which refers to the time period receiving treatment would improve some patients’ chances ...

Staff shortages are being blamed after waiting times to see breast cancer specialists in Lincolnshire dipped alarmingly earlier this year ahead of possible changes to the service. The national standard is for 93 per cent of those thought to have the cancer to be seen by a specialist within two weeks of their referral. But in January just 5.5 per ...

Plans to potentially improve the Johnson Hospital to an Urgent Medical Centre will be among those the public can discuss at an event in Spalding. The NHS’s engagement event is at the United Reformed Church from 2pm to 7pm on Thursday, June 13 where residents can air their views on the proposals and NHS care throughout South Holland. The proposals ...

Lincolnshire County Council’s health visiting and children and young people nursing services have been rated ‘good’ by Ofsted. Following the February inspection services were rated good in effective, caring, responsive and well-led criteria. The county council has though been told that it ‘requires improvement’ in the category of being safe following concerns over hand hygiene, the cleaning of toys and ...

South Holland and the Deepings MP Sir John Hayes says he’s fully behind a proposal to upgrade the Johnson Hospital in Spalding to an Urgent Treatment Centre. As previously reported in The Voice, as part of the Healthy Conversation 2019 consultation that’s ongoing, the NHS is looking to improve the services at the hospital which is currently designated as a ...

Assurances have been made to Holbeach Medical Centre patients after it was given six months to improve or face possible closure. As reported in last week’s Voice, the Park Road centre was rated ‘inadequate’ for a second time this year following Care Quality Commission inspections. Following the release of the report last week, South Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has ...

Lincolnshire residents are being asked to share their views about the county’s hospitals to help with future improvements and to make them the best they can be. All are invited to have their say on the reputation of United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) through an online survey. A spokesman for The Trust said: “You don’t have to be a ...

The Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance is celebrating two huge landmarks. The life-saving service has this month turned 25 years old and embarked on its 20,000th mission. Since airlifting its very first patient on May 13, 1994, the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance service has provided a life-saving Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) for the local community. To mark the ...

Spalding’s Johnson Hospital could be upgraded to an Urgent Treatment Centre and South Holland residents are being urged to back the idea. The hospital is currently designated a Minor Injury Unit but, along with sites at Gainsborough and Stamford, is “being proposed or considered as an Urgent Treatment Centre” according to a report to Lincolnshire County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee ...

Holbeach Medical Centre has been threatened with closure unless it improves after being rated ‘inadequate’ for a second time this year. The Park Road healthcare provider with 8,179 registered patients was served two warning notices for breaching the Health and Social Care Act 2008 when inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in January. An announced inspection on April 18 ...

Dental charges are increasing but recruiting staff for dentists continues to be a problem in South Holland, according to a local councillor. Coun Chris Brewis in his report to South Holland District Council’s meeting last night (Wednesday) on health issues in the county states that “recruitment and retention of dentists and dental nurses was putting increased pressure on the services.” ...

Spalding’s Nigel Brasier lasted longer at the World Snooker Championships than Ronnie O’Sullivan as the Motor Neurone Disease sufferer starred in his own way at The Crucible in Sheffield. Nigel was a special guest at the sport’s showpiece event with the MND Association having been named as its official charity for its Disability Day. The 49-year-old father of three has ...

Special sensory dolls aimed at stimulating dementia patients have been donated to a Spalding Care Home. John Lewis & Partners in Peterborough has donated 14 dolls to Tanglewood’s Cedar Falls care home in Spalding for residents living with dementia. The donation was organised by Simon Ragsdell, whose mother lives at Cedar Falls and who extensively fundraises throughout the year for ...

A former teaching assistant who had to give up the career she loves due to a painful condition has set up a weekly group she hopes will help others. Fern Shaw (31) of Spalding believes she’s been battling with fibromyalgia, an almost constant pain in her body, since she was a teen, but it’s only been diagnosed within the last ...

A Long Sutton care company has been awarded the top grade of Outstanding after a recent inspection. Action Homecare looks after people in their own home and covers the Long Sutton, Sutton Bridge and Holbeach area. The inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said that people were at the heart of the service offered by the company. “Staff had a ...

Lincolnshire has the second highest amount of crack cocaine and opiate addicts in the East Midlands, according to government estimates. Lincolnshire has an estimated 3,669 addicts, second only to Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands, which has an estimated 4,292 addicts. A spokesman for addiction treatment experts UKAT said: “Worryingly, these figures don’t even include anyone using cocaine in powder form, ...

New ambulances and staff have seen improvements to the East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS). A report to the county council’s health scrutiny committee says there have been 39 new vehicles added to the fleet. Of those, 28 are direct replacements while 11 are  additions. “While the performance of the division has improved considerably between March 2018 and March 2019, it  ...

A new mobile treatment centre was handed over to St John Ambulance during a ceremony in Spalding. At the end of March, the Mark Master Masons and the Mark Benevolent Fund donated the unit at St Mary and Nicholas Church. The Lincolnshire mobile treatment centre is one of over 50 vehicles which are being handed over in England, Wales, Northern ...