This column is provided by Dr Colin Farquharson, group chief medical officer at LCHG ...

Welcome to our second Lincolnshire Community and Hospitals NHS Group (LCHG) column.

Back in April, Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS) and United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) came together in a group arrangement.

This is not a formal merger of the two organisations, but instead brings the trusts together under a single board and executive leadership team, with the goal of improving the care that is provided to patients both in the community and in hospitals across Lincolnshire.

Work taking place on the new Emergency Department at Boston's Pilgrim Hospital.

placeholder image — Work taking place on the new Emergency Department at Boston's Pilgrim Hospital.

In recent months, a huge amount of effort and hard work has been happening to ensure we deliver the best care that we possibly can for our patients across the group, and we’re already making some really exciting progress for our patients in many areas, as we come closer together.

One of the areas of patient care where we believe we can make the biggest difference is in urgent and emergency care.

We still have a lot of work to do, but in recent months we’ve made huge progress in reducing ambulance handover times in our hospital Emergency Departments which has freed up ambulance colleagues to serve our communities, and now our next focus is on reducing waits for our patients who are in our urgent and emergency care departments.

Teams from across our hospitals and community settings are now actively working together to get our patients the care and treatment they need in the most appropriate clinical setting, rather than experiencing long waits in our urgent and emergency care departments. This is not going to happen overnight, but I am pleased to say that we are moving in the right direction and have amazing teams of people who strive every day to provide the best care for our patients.

Dr Colin Farquharson, group chief medical officer at LCHG.

Please can I take this opportunity to also ask everyone for your help?

If you need urgent medical care but it’s not an emergency, please visit NHS 111 online or call NHS111 for advice on how to get the care you need at any time of day or night. For other non-urgent cases, please speak to your GP practice or a pharmacist.

Taking up any offers to be vaccinated this winter will also help to keep you and your loved ones protected as much as possible.

By working together across the group and with the support of the people of Lincolnshire we can make things better and get it right for all of our patients.