Council bid for government to consider Skegness for local neighbourhood health centre
The Government is being asked to consider Skegness for one of the local neighbourhood health centres it is proposing.
East Lindsey District Council is known to support improved healthcare provisions in the resort – particularly through their backing of the town’s new £15m Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) – and has already stated it is behind the idea.
Now Skegness Town Council had joined the bid to attract the Government’s attention.
Under Government proposals within their 10-year Health Plan, millions of patients nationally will be treated and cared for by teams of health professionals, with local neighbourhood health centres retrieving pressure on overstretched hospitals and providing cutting-edge, personalised care.
Eventually these health centres will be open 12-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week within local communities, and will not only bring historically hospital-based services into the community - diagnostics, post-operative care and rehab - but will also offer services like debt advice, employment support and stop smoking or weight management, all of which will help tackle issues which we know affect people’s health.
Presenting the motion to town councillors at the August full council meeting, Coun Walker said Skegness met the criteria to be considered as the town classed as a deprived area with the nearest hospital 20.6 miles away.
Initially, he proposed the Skegness Hospital site – which also includes two in-patient wards – be considered.
However, following debate it was agreed the new £15m diagnostic centre on the former r Kwik Save supermarket site on Old Wainfleet Road would be the ideal location.
Coun Walker said: “I propose that we the Town Council ask the Town Clerk to be in contact with the Secretary of State for Health Wes Streeting MP to put Skegness Hospital forward as one of his planned Neighbourhood Health Centres that are all encompassing doing medical emergencies, dentist units, blood tests and diagnostic tests and as we already have the new diagnostic test centre across the road from the hospital.
"And the fact that we are classed as a deprived area with the nearest hospital 20.6 miles from Skegness.
“Obviously using the diagnostic centre will be cheaper than having to build a new one.”
In addition Coun Walker also asked the Town Clerk to write to MP Richard Tice hoping that he can push the Secretary of State to help make this happen.
- We asked NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) what they thought to the proposal. However, as nothing had been confirmed, a spokesperson said it was too early to give a formal statement.