Health

Patients who receive nuclear medicine face longer trips for treatment as the service was removed from Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital. Nuclear medicine is a specialist imaging technique involving the administration of radioactive substances (called radiopharmaceuticals) in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. At present, around 2,500 patients a year receive these very specialist tests at Lincoln County Hospital, Pilgrim Hospital in ...

A campaign has been launched to get more dentists in Lincolnshire. Healthwatch Lincolnshire has launched the ‘An NHS Dentist 4 all – Improving Dental Services across Lincolnshire’ campaign as it says it’s seen no improvement in the situation in recent years. Figures revealed by the Association of Dental Groups (ADG) show the top five ‘dental deserts’ include Lincolnshire. Statistics from ...

A Spalding surgery has been hit by a break in. Beechfield Medical Centre was targeted overnight with police called at 4.15am. The Beechfield Gardens surgery was closed this morning (Wednesday, October 12) but has since reopened to those who have appointments. The surgery posted on Facebook: “We currently have no access to the main entrance, downstairs waiting room or dispensary, ...

A terminally ill patient of St Barnabas Hospice is appealing for more support for the Hospice. Lisa Hartley from Spalding was given just 48 hours to live in 2020, but thanks to support from St Barnabas Hospice, she survived against all odds and is seeking to raise awareness of the support she has received over the last two years. After a longstanding spinal injury, ...

Healthcare inequalities hit both ends of the age range across the county, according to a recent report for Lincolnshire. The results of a service-user survey shows that both the over-60s and the under-30s feel discriminated against when it comes to healthcare. A year after the pandemic first hit, the survey was conducted by Healthwatch Lincolnshire, which is an independent ‘champion ...

Posters are being put up around Spalding as part of a new campaign to raise awareness of the symptoms of prostate cancer. The Rightside Trust charity’s Mark Le Sage has launched the initiative and says he’s wanted to do so for decades after seeing a patient while a student nurse who told him he thought the symptoms ‘were just part ...

A charity is putting on special breakfasts for male carers in the district. Carers First has been awarded a grant by Lincolnshire’s Community Asset Development Fund to provide multiple events and activities, specifically for male carers in the South Holland and Bourne areas during the next six months. To start the events off Carers First are inviting local male carers ...

Amid concerns patients locally are struggling to get a referral from GPs to another NHS service, a group is looking to hear their experiences. Healthwatch Lincolnshire want to speak to people so it can ‘help the NHS better understand your challenges’. And a concern it says it hears regularly is with regards to GP referrals. A spokesman for the group, ...

A Spalding GP practice is to open a second site to fill the gap created when Johnson Hospital closes its surgery at the end of this month. There was an outcry when the hospital-based surgery caring for around 3,000 patients, announced its closure in July. Spalding Surgery was opened at the Johnson site when the town’s Pennygate Surgery closed in ...

A Spalding man has been thanked for 100 donations of blood with a special award. Terry Day, 70, a retired Spalding Fire Officer and former Spalding Royal Naval Association branch secretary, was invited along with his wife Shirley to an award ceremony at Beverley Racecourse in Yorkshire. He was presented with a Memorial Medallion and Certificate in Recognition of having ...

Two funding streams have been approved to help boost mental and physical health in Holbeach. A special open day is being held on Monday with taster sessions of walking football, walking cricket and other activities. The Money Care Network alliance of countywide community groups is funding the walking sports. District and county councillor Tracey Carter secured the funding which aims ...

A public meeting has been called to discuss the closure of the Spalding GP Surgery amid a call for Pinchbeck to get its own surgery. Coun Angela Newton has organised the meeting as she said the NHS consultation events being held about the closure are ‘have not been very positive’. The public meeting will take place on Monday, September 5 ...

A Spalding GP surgery set to close later this year is still requiring improvement, according to a recent CQC report. The Spalding Surgery, based at the town’s Johnson Hospital, is still not meeting a statutory regulation on good governance, says a report published last week. The surgery was originally opened as a replacement for Spalding’s Pennygate Surgery which closed in ...

A local charity that helps bring elderly people together says it’s in urgent need of new volunteers, particularly bus drivers. The Meadows is a day centre based just off Park Road in Spalding which elderly people can pay a fee to attend. The idea is to give them the opportunity, meet others, take part in games and crafts and enjoy ...

A group that aims to beat loneliness in one of the most isolated areas of the county says it needs more volunteers to come forward or it may have to close. The East Elloe Good Neighbour Scheme, which covers Holbeach, Long Sutton and surrounding villages, offers a service where volunteers either go out or ring people for a chat who ...

A doctors surgery created in 2018 to replace another is to close in October with patients to be transferred elsewhere while the NHS looks at options. Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHST Trust says it is not going to renew the contract to run the Spalding Surgery from the Johnson Hospital when it runs out on September 30. It was set ...

The trust that runs the Spalding GP Surgery has issued a statement on why it’s to close the service. The Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust oversees the Johnson Hospital where the Spalding Surgery has been been based since 2018 after the previous Pennygate Surgery closed. This afternoon (July 13), the Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board announced it was to close ...

Person-centred care and effective communication are two key areas that matter the most to patients, according to Healthwatch Lincolnshire. The report says local health trusts have been struggling with an ever-declining workforce, poor travel infrastructure and local expectations of care. “For many patients, carers and service users, their view of COVID-19 on how they access services has changed from support ...

A Moulton Chapel leukaemia survivor has enjoyed the trip of a lifetime thanks to the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust. Tori Nixon was 19 when she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and she underwent six months of intense treatment at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. Now 21, she is in complete remission and earlier this month spent four days sailing from ...

A planned new diagnostic service could have a branch in Spalding, but there’s concern stroke and orthopaedic services are moving further away. Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group is looking at creating a second Diagnostic Centre in the county in addition to the one currently in Grantham. The idea behind them is that people could get a quicker diagnosis from tests done ...