Health Secretary discusses doctor strikes during visit to County Hospital Louth

​Louth & Horncastle MP Victoria Atkins visited County Hospital Louth today (Wednesday December 27), to not only visit the Urgent Treatment Centre, but to see the new MRI machine that was installed in LCH in May 2020 following a fundraising campaign led by Trevor Marris.

This MRI scanner is the most used MRI in United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT), and in the past three and a half years 25,000 patients have been scanned using this state-of-the-art equipment.

Trevor said: “The biggest thank you must go to the public the people of Lincolnshire because without them we couldn't have raised £507,000.

"I did it because this hospital is so special and the ULHT were brilliant – without them we wouldn't have got this.”

Ms Atkins said that she was “so proud” to have Louth’s Hospital looking after residents:

"I wanted to come here today not just as the MP for Louth and Horncastle, but as the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

"I want to support all of our healthcare staff and keep people safe and well.

"I used three words to describe our mission – faster, simpler, and fairer – and for people living in rural and and coastal areas to get the same level of quality of treatment as those living in more urban areas.”

During her visit, Ms Atkins was also shown the hospital’s Endoscopy unit, as well as the works currently underway to create a new procedure room for the unit to support the bowel cancer screening programme at the hospital.

One of Ms Atkins’s biggest tests in her role as Health Secretary will be to come to an agreement with junior doctors, as another strike is set to take place from 7am today (Wednesday) to 7am on Tuesday (January 10) in an ongoing dispute with the government over pay.

Ms Atkins said that there was currently another deal on the table in a bid to stop the junior doctors striking which she said she was “very disappointed” in and was concerned about the effects the strikes will have, not only on patients, but on other healthcare professionals having to pick up the slack:

“There has been progress, we've made an offer to the consultants and specialist doctors are looking at the offer to them,” she said, “The message to the junior doctors is this: call off the strike and come back to the table – we will get this done.”

Ms Atkins said that waiting times at Accident and Emergency departments were improving across the ULHT.

Ms Atkins said: “We all know that winter is the most difficult time for the health service as there’s more seasonal illnesses and it can be tough on people.

"There are lots of measures being taken across the country to improve the flow of patients through the hospital, and the ULHT has seen signs of improvement and when the new A&E in Boston opens [Pilgrim Hospital, Boston is undergoing a £43.5 million pound transformation of the Emergency Department] it will be a game changer with more rooms and facilities to serve people.”

The Health Secretary said she was “loving” being in her new role:

"The NHS is one of the reasons I came into politics,” she said.

"To be able to work with the talented people here is a huge privilege, but it’s a huge responsibility to ensure our system works well and patients get the services they deserve – it's a great responsibility.”

During her first month as Health Secretary, she said one of the best things that she has managed to do in that time will be the launch of the Pharmacy First service.

This will enable patients to be seen and prescribed the appropriate medicines by trained pharmacists for minor ailments such as urinary tract infections or earache, which is due to be rolled out nationwide in the new year.

She also said that one of her other proudest moments was being able to roll-out the opt-out HIV testing programme, which offers testing for HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C to anyone having a blood test in hospital A&E units in areas of the country with the highest prevalence of HIV.

The launch of this service saw her meet Sir Elton John, whose campaigning and fundraising for HIV and AIDS charities is well-known:

"He was so lovely,” she said, “He has devoted his life to fundraising in practical ways and investing in pilots to stop the spread of HIV.

"Our hope is that by 2030 there will be no new transmission of HIV and thanks to this new diagnostic system, we hope to see that happen.”

Ms Atkins added that she was excited to see what revolutionary advances in medicine will come from Mablethorpe’s Campus for Future Living, which is part of the government investment of the nearly £24million in Mablethorpe Towns Deal, and is scheduled for completion later this year.

"The Campus in Mablethorpe will be so innovative, and the research done here will have huge benefits,” Victoria said, "The campus will be helping people not just residents living here but nationally, and the results of that will be used for all sorts of medicinal pathways.”