Campaigners from Lincolnshire take health service fight to Westminster

Fighting 4 Life Lincolnshire joined groups from Calderdale, Oxford and Devon to present evidence at the House of Commons on their concerns for local health services.

The group gave a presentation to MPs, including Boston’s Matt Warman, on the closure of Grantham A&E overnight.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust controversially made the decision back in August 2016, a move which it said would be “temporary”.

Campaigners told MPs how scrutiny of the decision had been “inadequate” and raised concern over the role of the Lincolnshire Sustainability and Transformation Partnership.

ULHT previously said that no decision would be made on the future of the department until the STP is published.

But campaigners disagreed with the role of the partnership on the future of the service,

They said: “We strongly disagreed with the Independent Reconfiguration Panel’s call for the Lincolnshire Sustainability & Transformation Plan to provide the basis for public engagement and consultation on the future of Lincolnshire’s urgent and emergency services.”

The group criticised delays in the response from the Secretary of State for Health following the first referral of the closure from the Health Scrutiny Panel for Lincolnshire.

Since then, the Minister for Health has responded following a second referral from Lincolnshire’s Health Scrutiny committee.

Steve Barclay MP asked the trust and local Clinical Commissioning Group to give an update on how they intend to consult on the future of the department.

Campaigners said they would continue to fight for the A&E service to be reinstated fully.