Major incident stepped down at Lincolnshire hospitals

The level of concern for services had been raised from a critical to a major incident on Tuesday by United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust caused by level of demand for all services, staff shortages caused by Covid infections and isolation, as well as an issue with the water supply at Grantham Hospital.

This meant that outpatient appointments and non-urgent operations and procedures at that time were to be postponed.

The level was stepped down again by the Trust on Wednesday.

In a statement the Trust said: "The water supply issue at Grantham and District Hospital has now been resolved, but our hospitals remain in a challenging position due to high demand for urgent and emergency care services and staff shortages driven by COVID-19.

"As such, the critical incident declared on Saturday January 1 remains in place to help us to manage and maintain services for patients.

"Elective surgery and outpatient appointments have been postponed across all of our hospitals today but will resume again tomorrow (Thursday January 13). We have contacted those affected and appointments and surgery will be rescheduled as soon as possible.

"We offer our sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused. The safety of those in our care remains our priority and we continue to work with our health partners to maintain essential services."

They also thanked staff who "continue to work tirelessly to care for their patients and support their colleagues" as they work hard to restore services, supported by local partners, volunteers and members of the armed forces, who are carrying out logistical and other supporting tasks.

ULHT added: "We ask the public to help support us in managing the high demand for services. We ask people to only attend A&E with serious or life threatening illnesses and to seek alternative support for on-going problems or minor injuries. Many illnesses can be better treated by visiting your local pharmacy, calling 111 or visiting NHS 111 online, visiting your local GP, or GP out of hours services, or attending an urgent treatment centre or minor injuries unit."