Health

Ten health trainer jobs are at risk after a Lincolnshire County Council decision to stop funding the service. Lincolnshire Community and Voluntary Service (LCVS), which delivers the service in South Holland, Boston and South Kesteven, has begun a restructuring effort to try and retain the service. LCVS employs ten people – three in South Holland – and hopes to find ...

A Lincolnshire health practice is the first to be recognised for the way it supports unpaid carers and directs them to the right place for help. Staff at The Abbeyview Surgery in Crowland have been awarded the first Lincolnshire Carers Quality Award from the Lincolnshire Carers & Young Carers Partnership (LCYCP). The LCYCP works to increase awareness of unpaid carers ...

A group established in Spalding to support mental health issues is beginning a running club to promote wellbeing through exercise. Community Mind Matters is planning weekly runs, with the first being on Friday, February 12 (meet outside South Holland Centre at 11am). Anybody is welcome. Vanessa Browning, one of Community Mind Matters’ founders, said: “While it is really just about ...

Patients registered at GP practices in a new South Lincolnshire alliance could in future be able to see a doctor at weekends. It might not be at their own practice but at one of the surgeries in the link-up, which includes Spalding, Holbeach, Crowland, Long Sutton, Gosberton and Moulton. The move is being considered as part of “a more collaborative ...

Don’t go straight for the antibiotics if you are feeling ill is the warning from GPs across South Lincolnshire. Many patients ask for antibiotics when visiting their GP as they assume a course of antibiotics is a cure-all solution. However, the overuse of antibiotics can result in infections becoming resistant to the drug so they do not work. Dr Kevin ...

South Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group is reminding patients of the importance of eating healthily and keeping fit, particularly during the winter months. An estimated one in four adults and one in five children aged 10 to 11 in the UK are considered obese, putting themselves at risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, depression and stroke. Dr Kevin Hill, chairman ...

Health leaders are urging people to take up something new that will improve their physical and mental health during January. Research shows that the chances of success are greater when people channel their energy into changing just one aspect of their behaviour. Dr Kevin Hill, chairman of NHS South Lincolnshire CCG, said: “Taking up a sport or joining a gym ...

Seven food establishments in South Holland need “major improvement”, according to the Food Standards Agency. Five premises in Spalding, one in Long Sutton and another in Sutton Bridge all have a food hygiene rating of 1. Zero is the lowest and 5 the highest. They are: Delicious Coffee Shop, 32 Market Place, Long Sutton Global Foods, 2 Winsover Road, Spalding ...

People are being urged to stay away from hospitals wherever possible and consider other sources of healthcare. Local hospitals are continuing to face severe disruption due to norovirus and high attendances, with restricted visiting now in place at Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital. United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) manages Lincoln, Boston and Grantham hospitals and is working with the county’s four ...

The Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme tells us about standards in restaurants and other food businesses. The ranking system goes from 0 (lowest) to 5 (highest). In South Holland, 97.3 per cent of food outlets have a rating of 3 or better. Here, district council food safety officer Mandy Baker gives an account of a day of unannounced inspections… 9am: Check ...

Pupils at two Spalding primary schools are benefiting from new kitchen pods providing hot and nutritious lunches. St Paul’s and St John The Baptist were two of seven schools in the county to have stand-alone, fully equipped kitchen pods installed after Lincolnshire County Council won a £1.2m bid from the Department for Education under the universal free school meals programme. ...

The winners in a competition to design smoke free signs have received iPad prizes. The competition was run between South Holland District Council and The Voice, which highlighted the passive smoking health concerns of nurse and Spalding dad Mark Le Sage. More than 160 entries were received and the signs will go up soon at schools, nurseries and play areas. ...

Food safety is important all year round – and a little planning will ensure this Christmas is not remembered for all the wrong reasons. Nearly a third of people will be eating Christmas dinner with more than seven guests and 45 per cent will spend over five hours preparing and cooking. South Holland District Council has teamed up with the ...

Holbeach Medical Centre has made sufficient improvements to now be rated as “good” by the independent regulator for health and social care. The Care Quality Commission was pleased with what it saw during a return visit, having said in October 2014 that it required improvement. The practice in Park Road, which has 7,800 patients on the books, was rated “good” ...

Health commissioners are urging people to think about their alcohol consumption in the pre-Christmas party season. NHS South Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group will be supporting local pharmacies and treatment service providers during this time, offering information and advice whilst raising awareness of the campaign. Alcohol now costs the NHS £3.5bn per year; equal to £120 for every taxpayer, and according to ...

World Diabetes Day on November 14 is a timely reminder to all those with diabetes to protect themselves this winter with a free flu jab, say nurses at Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS). Those with diabetes, both Type 1 and 2, have a hard time fighting flu if it’s caught. The virus can put added stress on the ...

A Spalding doctors’ surgery with almost 20,000 patients on the books has been rated “good” by an independent regulator. The Care Quality Commission said Munro Medical Centre is doing well across all five service areas – safety, effectiveness, caring, response and leadership. Chief inspector of general practice, Prof Steve Field, said: “It was also good for providing services for older ...

The devastated family of a popular Spalding driving instructor are hoping that some good can come from his shocking and untimely death at the age of 46. Mark Cherry died on Saturday, just two months after being told he had stomach cancer. The diagnosis followed a spell of weight loss coupled with heartburn and indigestion, which began around July. Even though ...

A Spalding secondary school has had two potentially life-saving defibrillators installed. The machines, which cost just under £1,000 for the pair, were funded by The Friends of Sir John Gleed School. Currently there is no legal requirement for places of education to have access to a defibrillator but more than 600 young people die every year from cardiac arrests. Anthony ...

Two members of a Spalding fundraising group have been out to India to help administer polio vaccinations to children. Chris Chew and his wife Wendy and Pat Luckett travelled to India as part of the Rotary Club of South Holland’s commitment to help eradicate polio worldwide. Ridding the world of poliomyelitis became the top priority of the world’s 34,000 Rotary ...