Around 250 appointments have been cancelled at Lincolnshire’s hospitals as junior doctors prepare to strike for the second time in a month.

Doctors will walk out for 24 hours from 8am on Wednesday, February 10, providing only emergency care.

Lincolnshire’s hospitals have had to postpone 10 operations scheduled for tomorrow in addition to the appointments.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust said that it was unaware of how many junior doctors would be participating in the strike, stating that the doctors do not have to notify them in advance of the industrial action.

Mark Brassington, Chief Operating Officer at ULHT, said that plans have been put in place to ensure that services run “safely and as smoothly as possible.”

He said: “Our plans are robust and will prioritise patients with the greatest health needs and emergency care. We aim to keep disruption to patients to a minimum.

“If the strike goes ahead, we will have to cancel a small number of patient appointments and operations at Pilgrim, Lincoln, Skegness and Spalding hospitals.

“However, the majority of appointments and operations will not be affected. No services will be affected at Grantham.

“We will attempt to contact every patient whose appointment is cancelled and to re-book. Any patient who is not contacted should attend their appointment as planned.

“If the strike is called off, we ask patients to attend their appointments as originally planned.

“All of our emergency care services will be running as usual, but members of the public are reminded to only attend A&E if it is a genuine emergency and to consider alternative options for minor ailments, such as visiting your pharmacist, walk in centre or urgent care centre.”

The first strike saw around 100 junior doctors in Lincolnshire walk out from 8am on January 12, in protest at Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s proposed changes to their contracts.

A picket line outside Lincoln County Hospital attracted the attention of those supporting the doctors and others who were critical of their actions.

Plans for a second strike on January 26 were shelved following discussions between the government and British Medical Association (BMA).

The strike on February 10 was meant to be the first all-out doctors’ strike in NHS history but has been scaled back to the same levels of the previous industrial action.

Last ditch talks between the government and BMA are ongoing in an attempt to avert the strike.

The second junior doctors’ strike inside a month is well underway, with a picket line outside Lincoln County Hospital’s main entrance on Wednesday, February 10.

Around 250 appointments and 10 operations have been cancelled by hospitals across Lincolnshire because of the industrial action, which has seen doctors walk out and provide only emergency care for 24 hours.

Doctors have organised the strike in protest at Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s proposed changes to their contracts.

This strike follows a previous walk out on January 12 and plans for industrial action on January 26 were shelved following discussions between the government and British Medical Association (BMA).

Francis Kynaston-Pearson, a junior doctor at Lincoln County Hospital, said: “I’m on strike for my patients to ensure that they are going to be in a safe NHS for the future.

“I’m on strike for my wife to ensure that she has a husband that can actually come home at night and isn’t completely overwhelmed by work.

“I’m on strike for my son and for my family to make sure that they grow up in an NHS that exists free at the point of access.

“I’m on strike for my medical colleagues to make sure that we can have a safe and workable contract for the future of the NHS.”

Tom Smart, a junior doctor and also local union representative for the BMA, said: “The public have been incredibly supportive.

“Personally, my views are that if the government’s going to carry on threatening to enforce this contract, then we’d be forced to say that we’d carry on striking.”

Reactions

The strike has generated significant discussion on social media, with hundreds of readers of The Lincolnite voicing their opinions on Facebook.

One of those supporting the strike, Bernadette Hargreaves, said: “They work very hard for their patients, these new contracts risk patient safety.

“Junior doctors already do ridiculous hours, to expect more from them for less is unfair and demoralises the entire profession from the day they qualify.”

Jack Drake said: “Fully in support, it’s not about wages. It’s about the amount they’re expected to work stretching a 5-day NHS with holes in it to a 7-day NHS ripped apart.”

Stephen Minister, who drove up to the picket line at the previous strike in January, was again one of those opposed to the industrial action.

He said: “They are not making Jeremy Hunt, nor the Tories suffer.

“They are making 250 local Lincolnshire outpatients suffer, who have had their appointments cancelled. They are also putting pressure on their colleagues who have chosen not to strike.

“Plus they have made the 10 people suffer, who were due to have their operations today which have now been cancelled.”

Sean Gilbert added: “Get back to work like the rest of us! Putting people’s lives at risk is utterly greedy and selfish.”

Junior doctors at Lincoln County Hospital have said they will consider moving abroad as news broke that the government will impose its new contract on the profession.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced the decision to MPs in the House of Commons on February 11, after the government’s chief negotiator Sir David Dalton advised ministers to do “whatever necessary” to end the deadlock.

Talks between the government and the British Medical Association failed, with the union rejecting a deal on Wednesday, February 10, as junior doctors were in the middle of their second strike inside a month.

Doctors walked out in protest at Hunt’s proposed changes to their contracts, especially over what constitutes unsociable working hours.

Hunt told the Commons: “He (David Dalton) has asked me to end the uncertainty for the service by proceeding with the introduction of a new contract that he and his colleagues consider both safer for patients and fair and reasonable for junior doctors.

“I have therefore today decided to do that.”

Francis Kynaston-Pearson, a junior doctor at Lincoln County Hospital, said that he was “absolutely devastated” and “crestfallen” at the news.

He said:

“In no other profession could you impose a contract unilaterally – it’s a tyrannical decision and the government has launched its nuclear option.

“Some people have already resigned, are considering resigning or emigrating abroad to a country where doctors are treated better and not portrayed as lacklustre money-grabbers.

“Even if you don’t accept what doctors are saying and agree with the Department of Health, the idea of imposing a contract and making an entire workforce disillusioned is counter-intuitive.

“We need a compromise here as the alternative is a disaster.”

Junior doctor Tom Smart, who is also a local BMA rep, added: “Personally, I was thinking of going to work abroad and Jeremy Hunt’s decision has now confirmed it for me really.

“Countries like Australia, Canada, America and South Africa are well known for having a better work-life balance and this contract being imposed on us will only make the work-life balance here worse.

“If this happens, it would be unbearable for the NHS and it would undoubtedly threaten its existence.

“The government has never acknowledged the key issue which we have of spreading a smaller workforce even further.”

Johann Malawana, BMA junior doctor committee chair, said: “The government’s shambolic handling of this process from start to finish has totally alienated a generation of junior doctors – the hospital doctors and GPs of the future, and there is a real risk that some will vote with their feet.

“Our message to the government is clear: junior doctors cannot and will not accept a contract that is bad for the future of patient care, the profession and the NHS as a whole, and we will consider all options open to us.”

The chief executive role at the East Midlands Ambulance Service is open once again, less than a year after the appointment of Sue Noyes.

As previously reported, Sue was officially appointed as chief exec in May 2015 after she sat in the interim seat for 18 months.

She will leave the job in June 2016 due to what she says are personal family reasons.

Phil Milligan, who filled the role for two years, quit in 2013 after criticisms from politicians over restructuring plans. The service was also fined millions for failing to meet target response times.

The role was initially taken on by Jon Towler until Sue Noyes took over, as interim.

East Midlands Ambulance Service announced on Monday, February 15 that Sue Noyes would be leaving.

Chairman Pauline Tagg said: “Sue is a valued and respected member of the EMAS team and we will be sorry to see her leave.

“She has made this decision for personal family reasons, and I know she has not made it lightly.

“I have asked Sue to stay on until June 2016, to continue to lead EMAS through the introduction of phase three of our quality improvement programme Better Patient Care – Driving Forward for 2016.

“Sue and I are committed to ensure that our work continues as normal over the following months.

“We will continue to meet and engage with staff and stakeholders across the East Midlands as we prepare our long term plan to secure EMAS’ future.”

In the coming weeks Pauline Tagg will be discussing with the EMAS Board and the NHS Trust Development Authority the future leadership arrangements for EMAS.

The recently appointed Chief Executive of United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust Jan Sobieraj joins The Lincolnite for a live web chat this lunchtime to answer your questions.

For the hour-long web chat, he is answering questions sent in by readers over social media and email.

This liveblog has finished. Updates are displayed chronologically.

Emily Norton

3 hours ago

Jan Sobieraj has joined us at The Lincolnite offices and will be here for the next hour answering your questions. You can still get involved by emailing news@thelincolnite.co.uk.

Emily Norton

3 hours ago

We’ll start with an easy question Jan to get the Q&A rolling: What was your first job?

Jan Sobieraj

3 hours ago

When I was about 11 I had a paper round, then a milk round, then working in a shop evenings and weekends. The best summer job I had as a teenager was working in a tomato nursery.

 

Emily Norton

3 hours ago

You stepped into the role of Chief Executive at a crucial time of climbing deficits, a norovirus outbreak and waiting times pressures. What was your strategy when you were appointed and what have been the first priorities on your agenda?

Jan Sobieraj

3 hours ago

We have to remember that the Trust is not in a unique position and the NHS is generally under strain and we need to work well across the whole system of health and care.

One of the first things I did was to write personally to all of our consultants and senior leaders and asked for their support to help take the Trust forward (500 letters). The other was to engage with our partners as together we can improve patient health and care.

I embarked on a range of staff engagement sessions and at the same time focussed on our performance numbers to get an understanding of where we were at and what we needed to do to improve.

Emily Norton

3 hours ago

Claire Darbyshire asked: What’s the top priority for the trust and its staff for 2016/17?

Jan Sobieraj

3 hours ago

I think our top priority for the next few years has to be to retain and recruit really good staff, because at the end of the day it’s these that provide the care that our patients need.

I think there are 3 aspects to this. Firstly to reduce our turnover rate, which at just over 2% isn’t too bad, but if we can improve will make a real difference. Our nursing and midwifery turnover is higher at over 9%, which isn’t bad compared to national figures but gives us scope for improvements. Second is to make ourselves even more attractive as an employer so we become a ‘magnet’ for staff to come to. Thirdly, which I think is the toughest one, is to think about how we can provide care in different ways using technology and staff in a different capacity. 

By getting all of this right, we will improve our quality of care and our finances.

Emily Norton

3 hours ago

June Hodgson asked: “Why are the management blind to the working conditions, hours and stress placed upon the doctors and nurses on the ‘shop floor’?

Mandy Jane Linder added: “How can it be safe practice working a 12 hour shift, sleeping then going straight back to working another?”

Jan Sobieraj

3 hours ago

I don’t think we are at all blind to the pressures on staff. All of our senior staff spend time on wards and since I’ve been in post over the last 9 weeks I’ve done 2 night shifts and been round most wards and departments talking to staff who I found very frank and candid about the pressures. We monitor this at board level and we track safety levels, we also get information from staff surveys and pulse checks and have open discussions with our staffside colleagues. So I think we recognise its a pressurised environment and where things aren’t right we are working hard to improve them.

In terms of hours, around the country there are different shift patterns. In our Trust we have 12 hour shifts and I’ve been going round the staff talking about these and whilst some people have a different view the majority of people I’ve spoken to suport this for whatever personal reason, but it’s something we need to monitor closely. 

Emily Norton

3 hours ago

This issue of pressure on staff has been echoed not least by recent strikes by junior doctors across the county. Opinions have been divided over whether new contracts are fair and whether strike action is appropriate. What’s your opinion on Jeremy Hunt’s new contract and the protests that followed?

Jan Sobieraj

3 hours ago

 Ideally we would have preferred a negotiated settlement but clearly that hasn’t been possible so our job now is to implement the contract locally around the needs of our staff and patients.

I don’t have enough details yet of the implications but I am hoping to meet with our local junior doctor reps in the near future to discuss how we can approach this with as much sensitivity as possible bearing in mind the strong views.

Emily Norton

3 hours ago

ULHT predicted deficit for the year 2015/16 is £57,800,000. Many of our readers raised concerns about the financial state of the trust and asked A: ‘Where does all the money go?’ and B: ‘How are you going to balance the books?’

Jan Sobieraj

3 hours ago

As we know, the NHS is facing unprecedented financial challenges generally and is forecasting a £2 billion deficit, so we are not alone in having to balance providing safe care and keeping within our resource limit.

The major overspend this year is on staffing costs, and by the end of the year we are probably going to spend over £30 million on agency staff- around £2.5 million a month. This is because of our staff shortages.

This is not the only reason and the current arrangements for providing acute care across our 4 sites provides great local care but is not the most cost efficient. Also, I should be honest in saying that we can be more efficient regardless of these things, as patients often tell us, quite rightly, some of our systems and processes are not as slick as they can be.

Jan Sobieraj

3 hours ago

My early analysis is that the Trust’s deficit is nearer £67 million, which I know is a huge amount, and is made up of a number of big things.

I think that the current configuration of services costs us around £30 million more than an organisation that has centralised services. Also that the net cost of our vacancies is around £15 million, and the other £22 million is made up of problems we face because we have patients who are medically fit for discharge, but who are still in our hospitals. As a result of that we do less planned care than we should and therefore we lose income.

This is really complicated and requires a lot of partnership working internally and externally to be resolved over the next few years.

Emily Norton

3 hours ago

Staffing shortages at the trust have often been highlighted with concerns raised over the reliance on ‘expensive’ agency staff. Reader Yvonne Parker added: “Why aren’t gaps filled by staff as overtime before being given to overpriced agencies?”

Jan Sobieraj

3 hours ago

 Our agency spend is reducing but needs to reduce a lot further. We are putting in systems to make it easier for our existing staff to work on the bank or overtime, and we know there are some perverse incentives in place which makes it harder than it should be.

We are introducing a bank ‘cloud’ so that staff wanting to go on the bank can book their own shifts in, and we need to do a lot more to make it easy because we know that, not only for financial reasons, having staff who know the wards and departments working locally is good for patient care.

Emily Norton

2 hours ago

Some of our readers also questioned the salaries of senior managers. Do you believe that the pay they receive is appropriate given the current financial position of the trust?

Jan Sobieraj

2 hours ago

I understand the reason for the question, and the reality is this is a half a billion pound enterprise, the equivalent of a FTSE 250 company with around 7,000 staff, and therefore these sorts of jobs are rated relative to other big jobs in the public and commercial sectors.

On a personal level, despite all of this, I know we find it hard to recruit senior staff because the turnover rates are very high- people are very willing to tell me I’m the 12th Chief Executive in 15 years.

Emily Norton

2 hours ago

Bec Fawcett-Howitt asked: “Why have spinal specialists been outsourced?” – Expanding on this, how much of Lincolnshire hospitals’ work is now outsourced? 

Jan Sobieraj

2 hours ago

 

One of the big questions for the country is what can and should be done by your local district general hospital, as we are seeing globally a move to providing more centralised services, which is needed to ensure that staff have sufficient training and knowledge of complicated procedures. A good example of this in Lincolnshire is how we have centralised cardiac care, and as a result of this mortality rates around the county have improved.

The decision on what to provide locally is determined by NHS commissioners (clinical commissioning groups) and specialised commissioners who work across regions. Together they decide what can safely be provided locally and what needs to be aggregated. I understand a decision to commission spinal services out of county was taken a while ago in light of the need to ensure that people have specialist training and support.

Emily Norton

2 hours ago

Dean Graham asked: “In the 2014 NHS staff survey, according to staff only 8% strongly agreed that senior management were committed to patient care, this is clearly unacceptable, as Chief Executive what steps will you be taking to change this?”

Jan Sobieraj

2 hours ago

We know that our staff survey results are not as good as they should be and we are eagerly awating the new ones to come out. I know that having an engaged and satisfied workforce makes a real difference to patient care and that we need to be far more active across the Trust to listen to the views of our staff and take actions where necessary, including involving staff in the big decisions.

I would argue that one of the reasons for the deficit over the last year or so is the fact that we have rightly prioritised patient care and safety over financial balance.

Emily Norton

2 hours ago

 We have time for just one more question from a Lincolnite reader: “The number of never events and compensation for negligence is increasing year on year, when will the trust invest in more staffing resource which would cost less than the compensation paid (or increase in insurance premium).” – NHS Litigation Authority figures revealed that ULHT paid out over £19 million in 2013/14 to cover clinical negligence claims, compared with just under £10 million the year before. 

Jan Sobieraj

2 hours ago

 

We are spending too much on our insurance bill and payments, many of which go back many years. I don’t think its down to just the numbers of staff because, as I’ve pointed out before, we have the number of posts we think we need in place but simply can’t find the numbers of staff to fill them (hence our huge agency bill).

Some of the errors we make are not down to lack of staff at all, it’s down to adherance to policies or poor systems, and this is where I think we can spend a lot of our energy making sure people are fully trained, supported and using better systems, for example greater use of technology. Ultimately, being a really good healthcare provider will need the right levels of staff, the right skills, great systems and of course fantastic behaviours.

Emily Norton

2 hours ago

I’m afraid we are going to have to wrap up there. Thank you very much for joining us Jan. I’m sure we have lots to look out for from the trust this year.

Jan Sobieraj

2 hours ago

Thanks for gving me the opportunity, and whilst I haven’t had chance to read all the comments I’m really keen for patients and members of the public to get involved in what we do by becoming a member of the Trust which they can do using the link on our Trust website.

With your support, ideas and help, together we’ll improve the way we serve our patients and local communities.

A Lincoln GP surgery has been told to improve the way it keeps patients safe in a critical report by a regulator of health and care services in England.

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited the Newark Road Surgery run by doctors Baljinder Noorpuri and Jane Marshall on January 6.

The practice, which provides services to around 7,250 patients in North Hykeham and the surrounding areas was rated overall as ‘requires improvement’ in a report published on February 18.

The report revealed that patients were at risk of harm because systems and processes were either not in place or not well implemented in a way to keep them safe.

Inspectors said: “Although risks to patients who used services were assessed, the systems and processes to address these risks were not implemented well enough to ensure patients were kept safe, for example, fire safety and legionella.

The practice requires improvement for providing effective services, with data showing that patient outcomes were low for the locality.

The report said: “For example, performance for diabetes related indicators was 82.6% which was 8.1% below the CCG average and 6.6% below the national average.

“The performance for patients with hypertension was 92.3% which was 5.7% below the CCG average and 5.5% below the national average.

“The dementia diagnosis rate was 92.3% which was 2.3% below the CCG average and 2.2% below the national average.

The report noted that most staff had not had an appraisal since 2014 either.

Leadership of the practice was also rated as ‘requires improvement’, with the surgery described as not having “a clear or consistent system in place” for reporting, recording and monitoring significant events and incidents.

Inspectors added: “There was not a structured or robust approach for dealing with safeguarding and the practice had not proactively sought feedback from patients.”

The managers received better feedback for their leadership structure and having an active patient participation group.

Despite this, the surgery was praised for its caring services and how it responded to the needs of patients.

Rebecca Neno, deputy chief nurse at Lincolnshire West Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “Newark Road Surgery has been rated as requiring improvement by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), following a recent visit.

“In its report, the CQC highlights a number of areas for improvement and we are confident that the surgery will make these improvements and continue providing good care for patients.

“We note that the practice was rated good in the provision of caring and responsive services.

“The practice has our full support.”

A Lincoln GP surgery is to hold a special event aimed at engaging with its Eastern European patients.

Portland Medical Practice, previously named City Medical Practice, is encouraging people to drop-in on March 15 to discuss any issues they may have and learn more about the local health service.

The surgery serves around 9,000 residents, many of whom are Eastern European.

The ‘Your Health’ event, organised by the practice, City of Lincoln Council and Lincolnshire Polish Society is also open to other patients.

Caroline Collins, practice manager at the Portland Street-based site, said: “This kind of event brings people together.

“Clinics can become extremely busy places and so there is limited time to actually sit down and have an informal chat.

“This is an important day as we look to engage better with patients who are used to different systems in other European countries.

“Their trust in the service we provide isn’t great, but this is a chance to improve that and improve healthcare overall.”

The event will be held at the practice and will run between 1-3pm.

Light refreshments and activities for both adults and children to take part in will be provided.

Patients needing investigative tests on their bowel are being seen up to two weeks earlier thanks to a pilot project at Lincoln County Hospital.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust is currently piloting the use of a new way of booking in colonoscopy tests for patients with suspected cancer.

This involves the patients being assessed for their need for testing by a specialist over the phone, rather than having to attend hospital for an outpatient appointment before their examination is booked.

Colonoscopies are procedures where the large intestine is examined using an endoscope – a long, thin, flexible tube that has a light source and a video camera at one end.

They are often used to help in diagnosis of colon cancer and other bowel conditions.

In the new process, patients who are eligible are contacted by a nurse specialist by telephone within days of being referred by their GP.

The specialist will assess them based on symptoms and history and then recommend the best course of action.

If it is decided that they need a colonoscopy, that can be booked straight away.

Previously, patients would have had to wait up to two weeks for an appointment with a specialist in hospital to be assessed before any further tests could be booked.

Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at Lincoln County Hospital, Dr Amit Shukla, said: “Patients were losing vital time while waiting for a hospital appointment, as well as being forced to travel a long way to answer a few questions before a diagnostic test could be requested.

“With this new method, we will save people unnecessary appointments and travel time.”

If the pilot is deemed a success, it could be rolled out for colonoscopy patients across Lincolnshire.

Nearly half of staff employed by the trust which runs Lincolnshire’s hospitals would not recommend it as a place to work or are not satisfied with the standard of care it provides.

An NHS staff survey published on Tuesday, February 23 has put United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust in the bottom 20% for engagement with its employees.

Just 52% of the 274 staff from the trust who participated in the survey said they would recommend the organisation as somewhere to work.

Of the staff surveyed, only 54% added that if a friend or relative needed treatment, they would be happy with the standard of care provided by the organisation.

Both of these are improvements on the scores the trust recorded in the survey for 2014, but are well below the average for acute trusts nationally.

Employees’ ability to contribute towards improvements at work in Lincolnshire’s hospitals was also within the bottom 20% of trusts in England, as was staff satisfaction with resourcing and support and support from immediate managers.

The percentage of staff recording good communication between senior management and staff, quality appraisals, and effective use of patient user feedback was similarly ranked in the bottom fifth of trusts.

Other areas in which the trust was ranked below the national average included the percentage of reporting errors, near misses or incidents witnessed in the last month, the effectiveness in highlighting these errors, and staff confidence in raising unsafe clinical practice.

ULHT compared favourably with other trusts in the percentage of its staff suffering discrimination in the workplace, experiencing physical violence from staff in the last 12 months, and witnessing potentially harmful errors, near misses or incidents in the last month.

The trust also saw improvements compared to 2014 in the number of staff being affected by work-related stress in the last year or feeling pressure in the last three months to attend work when unwell.

However, 30% of staff still acknowledged feeling stressed at work, and 48% admitted that they felt pressurised to come into work when they were ill.

Ian Warren, Director of HR and Organisational Development at ULHT, said: “We know the staff survey results could be higher, but they are heading in the right direction.

“Since 2014, the scores have improved with staff saying that they are more motivated, better engaged and less likely to be stressed through work.

“At ULHT, we directly act on the feedback from staff. The national staff survey is just one way in which we seek the views of staff.

“We carry out a pulse check survey every quarter and in September we launched ‘ULH Way’ to engage and motivate staff in their teams, and our new CEO recently held listening events.

“Along with the national staff survey, we use these more detailed methods to identify areas where we can focus on improving the working lives of our staff and improving patient services.”

Lincolnshire trusts’ survey results

Other staff members working for NHS trusts across Lincolnshire participated in the survey.

Results for the East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS), Lincolnshire West Clinical Commissioning Group, Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS), and Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT) were published by the NHS at the same time.

The tables below compares staff satisfaction and engagement in each of Lincolnshire’s NHS trusts.

Key findings from the survey include an overall drop in satisfaction with Lincolnshire West CCG, dropping in all four categories compared with 2014.

Only 40% of staff working for EMAS would recommend it as a place of work, although this puts it almost in line with the national average, reflecting a wider dissatisfaction with life in the emergency services.

Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust staff ranked their service below the national average for mental health trusts in all four categories, while LCHS employees displayed more faith and satisfaction in their place of work, putting it level or above similar community trusts in England.

Maz Fosh, Director of Workforce and Transformation at LCHS, said: “We are pleased with the results and recognise there are areas where we need to continue our efforts. Our overall engagement score is important as it has a positive link with better patient outcomes.”

Are you a member of staff at a NHS trust in Lincolnshire? Let us know your views on the standard of care provided and satisfaction with your job by emailing news@thelincolnite.co.uk

People with cold or flu symptoms are being urged to stay away from Lincolnshire’s hospitals following an outbreak of influenza.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust has said that hospitals in the county have experienced several cases of patients admitted who are incubating the infection after catching it in the community.

The H1N1 strain of influenza is the main seasonal flu virus and has been circulating for a number of weeks now.

For the majority of people, flu is unpleasant, but not a life-threatening illness.

However, it can be very serious for those groups at risk of developing complications including people with weakened immune systems, as well as those with underlying conditions such as liver, lung or renal disease, heart problems or diabetes, and pregnant women.

Anyone with symptoms has been asked to not attend A&E or visit the hospital until they are fully recovered, in order to protect vulnerable patients.

The trust has said that the best course of action for people with flu is to rest and take plenty of non-caffeinated drinks to avoid dehydration.

Anyone concerned and in need of medical advice should contact NHS 111.

People in the at risk groups highlighted above can still receive a vaccination.

Michelle Rhodes, Director of Nursing at ULHT said: “We need the support of the public to keep our hospitals running and to protect vulnerable people.

“We urge people with flu like symptoms to not visit hospitals where viruses can often spread very easily. If people are concerned about their symptoms they should contact their GP for further advice.

“We continue to limit the number of visitors per patient to a maximum of two per bed space, in all but exceptional circumstances. Children aged 5 years and under should not visit the hospital.”

A Lincoln GP surgery is to receive a £200,000 expansion to cope with growing patient numbers, with plans in the table to recruit more doctors and nurses.

Work has already started at Lindum Medical Practice, in Cabourne Court, Lincoln, on three new consulting rooms and a minor surgery unit.

GPs themselves have invested around £75,000 towards the project – with the rest of the cash granted by the NHS England Primary Care Investment Fund.

The work is due to be completed by the start of April.

Currently, the surgery caters for 8,600 patients.

Pauline Mardle, practice manager, said: “We are delighted to have been successful in our bid.
“Our partners are committed to the future of primary care in the five-year forward view and improving services for our patients.

“General Practices are under extreme pressure, with demand and expectations higher than ever.

“We have always been restricted by lack of space. But the new rooms will allow us to hold extra clinics and offer better services to our patients, closer to home.”

Claire Darbyshire, senior engagement and quality manager at Lincolnshire West Clinical Commissioning Group, added: “The expansion is really good news for everyone concerned.

“The surgery aims to provide the best quality of care it can, as all our GP surgeries do, and an expansion of this kind, with new facilities and more room, can only help.”

The long-running dispute between junior doctors and the government shows no sign of ending, with further strikes at Lincolnshire’s hospitals planned for the next two months.

Three strikes across a total of six days have been announced by the British Medical Association (BMA) as it attempts to pressurise Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt into backing down over his attempts to impose new contracts on junior doctors.

The three strikes planned for March and April will each last 48 hours, double the duration of the previous industrial action held earlier this year.

The industrial action dates are:

• 8am on Wednesday, March 9 to 8am on Friday, March 11
• 8am on Wednesday, April 6 to 8am on Friday, April 8
• 8am on Tuesday, April 26 to 8am on Thursday, April 28

As with the other protests, doctors will only provide emergency care.

The first strike on Tuesday, January 12, saw support and fury expressed by passionate Lincoln residents at the first walk out in over 40 years.

A second strike was held on Wednesday, February 10, after previous industrial action planned for the end of January was called off at the last minute.

However, shortly after the second strike, the government announced it would impose the new contract on junior doctors.

BMA junior doctors committee chair Johann Malawana said: “This is yet another example of the incompetence which the government has demonstrated throughout its handling of the dispute.

“Imposing this contract will seriously undermine the ability of the NHS to recruit and retain junior doctors in areas of medicine with the most unsocial areas, where there are already staffing shortages.

“The government must listen to the chorus of concern coming from all quarters and reconsider this disastrous approach.”

However, Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said: “This disruption to patient care is unnecessary. I strongly believe that the final contract is safe, fair and reasonable.

“For the sake of the NHS, and patients I urge all junior doctors to take a look at the contract in detail before taking part in any future action.”

A Department of Health spokesperson added: “Further strike action is completely unnecessary and will mean tens of thousands more patients face cancelled operations – over a contract that was 90% agreed with the BMA and which senior NHS leaders including Simon Stevens have endorsed as fair and safe.

“The new contract will mean an average 13.5% basic pay rise, and will bring down the maximum number of hours doctors can work.

“We urge junior doctors to look at the detail of the contract and the clear benefits it brings.”

The trust which runs hospitals in Lincolnshire has appointed a new chair to the board, Dean Fathers.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust says Dean is an experienced chair and non-executive director in the NHS and private sector, and will bring a wealth of experience to the role.

Dean and his family have lived in Lincolnshire for eight years, and he is passionate about improving the quality of care at his local hospitals.

He is currently chair of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and will continue in his role there.

He will replace Ron Buchanan, who is retiring at the end of February after two years at the trust. Dean will start his two year term on March 5, 2016.

Dean will receive a remuneration of £40,000 per year and has no declared political activity in the last five years.

He said: said: “I am delighted to be appointed to the role of chair at ULHT. With the recent appointment of Jan Sobieraj as CEO it is an exciting time to take on the chair.

“I look forward to working with staff, partners, patients and carers to make a positive difference to the quality of care and the health of the lives of people in Lincolnshire”.

Jan Sobieraj, CEO of ULHT added: “I am delighted Dean will be joining the trust as our chair. He’s an experienced chair in the NHS and in the private sector and will be an asset for the trust. I look forward to working closely with him in helping to transform the trust”.

Jan also paid tribute to Ron Buchanan. “Although I haven’t worked with him for long, I would like to thank Ron for his excellent leadership at ULHT, particularly during challenging times when he helped to steer the trust out of special measures. I wish him well for the future.”

As well as being a successful chair of an NHS trust, Dean is an honorary professor in the practice of healthcare management at Cass Business School, a visiting professor at Leeds Business School’s centre for governance, and a professional fellow with the Institute of Mental Health.

He also holds the posts of chair of the steering group of the National Longitudinal Review of Schwartz Round Centres at Kings College London, is a member of Ed Smith’s Chairs Advisory Group at NHS Improvement and is a member of the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard Advisory group.

Dean will be stepping down from his other current roles as vice chair of the NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network, as senior independent director with both JRI Orthopaedics and Higos Insurance, and as a non-executive director of Finegreen.

Dean has previously been chair of Doncaster Health Authority (1999 to 2002), a non-executive director of the South Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority (2002 to 2006), chair of NHS Bassetlaw (2006 to 2010) and has been the chair of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust since 2011.

The appointment was made by the NHS Trust Development Authority, which is responsible for appointing all chairs and non-executives to NHS trusts throughout England.

All appointments are subject to the Code of Practice of the Commissioner for Public Appointments, and made following an open competition based on merit, in a way that is open, transparent and fair to all applicants.

Health providers from across Lincolnshire have joined forces with the county’s politicians and educational establishments to campaign for a medical school to be brought to the area.

A letter from the Lincolnshire Local Medical Committee has been sent to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt urging him to prioritise the creation of a medical school to help “support a struggling health economy.”

The petition sent on March 3 argues that a Lincolnshire medical school would encourage senior clinicians to relocate to the county, reducing the need for locums, and improve patient care.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust is the largest hospital trust in England to not have a medical school attached.

The letter has been signed by six Lincolnshire MPs, all eight council chief executives, chairperson of the Lincolnshire Health Scrutiny Committee, pro vice chancellor of the University of Lincoln, medical directors from all of the health trusts in Lincolnshire, four CCG clinical leads, GP representatives, three consultant representatives from hospitals, and the medical director of Healthwatch Lincolnshire.

Campaigners are now hoping to hold talks with the Health Secretary and the General Medical Committee to get the proposed project moving.

Dr Kieran Sharrock, Medical Director of the Lincolnshire Local Medical Committee, said: “One of the factors which has historically made recruitment of medical staff to Lincolnshire difficult has been the absence of a medical school here.

“Medical schools attract doctors of all specialities and all levels of seniority. Not having a medical school in Lincolnshire has led to a “brain drain” of talent, with doctors choosing to work in other parts of the country rather than coming to Lincolnshire.

“It is essential for the long term sustainability of health services in Lincolnshire, that a medical school be established here.”

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Lincoln is claiming that week-long access to GP services is not considered important to patients.

The research, which involved more than 170 practices and 1,500 patients in the UK, was conducted to determine what aspects of NHS GP care patients most value and how well patients’ surgeries are performing.

Data was gathered from two surveys featuring the same 15 questions. One examined what patients thought were the most important aspects of GP services, while the other asked patients to rate the performance of the primary care they received.

Extensive opening hours were rated as one of the least important elements.

Other items ranked among the least important were doctors knowing about the patient’s living situation; short waiting times; doctors asking about other possible problems; and the proximity of the practice to the patient’s house.

High importance areas where respondents believed the performance of the GP service could be improved included patients knowing how to access out of hours appointments; ease of getting appointments; patients feeling able to cope with a health problem after a consultation; being involved in treatment decisions made by the doctor and being asked about other possible problems; and reducing time pressures on consultations.

Five attributes were ranked as very important, while also receiving high performance ratings. These were the doctor having the patient’s medical records at hand; knowing important information about the patient’s background; listening carefully to their concerns; being polite; and reception staff being polite and helpful.

Lead researcher Dr Coral Sirdifield, from the University of Lincoln’s School of Health and Social Care, said: “These findings offer a real insight into the aspects of GP services which are considered the most important by patients and how those aspects marry up with the actual experiences patients have at GP surgeries.

“This information can help Clinical Commissioning Groups to determine which aspects of care they need to focus on to provide a service which is both deliverable and suits the needs of the patients.

“Areas relating to GP surgery access such as extensive opening hours, practice proximity and short waiting times were given higher rankings based on what the patients actually experienced, but were not rated as highly when it came to how important they were to patients.

“This suggests that focusing on these areas is less likely to increase patient satisfaction, and the Government’s drive for seven-day general practice is not what patients in this survey valued most.”

Almost 1,500 patients from 174 GP practices across the East Midlands, South Yorkshire and East of England provided the data. The findings are published in the journal Family Practice.

The data was compared using Importance Performance Analysis (IPA), a method that simultaneously represents data on importance and performance of a service, enabling identification of its strengths and weaknesses.

East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) Chief Executive Sue Noyes will be resigning from her post this week, three months earlier than originally planned.

Sue will be leaving EMAS for personal family reasons. A decision she says she ‘did not make lightly’.

The original intention was for Sue to stay until June 2016, however EMAS say her personal circumstances have changed and she needs to leave earlier than planned.

Sue’s last working day at EMAS will be Thursday, March 17 2016.

Pauline Tagg, Chairman of EMAS said: “I had already started discussions with NHS Improvement about our future leadership arrangements and we are exploring options with them. In the meantime, our Director of Operations Richard Henderson will become our Acting Chief Executive when Sue leaves EMAS.

“When Sue joined EMAS two and a half years ago it was in a very different place. There are still many challenges to face but a lot has been achieved since then.

“Sue has led the development of a number of improvements including re-establishing the ambulance technician role, improving staff support by creating our Peer to Peer and Pastoral Care Workers programmes, and investing in 29 new ambulance vehicles to support our frontline crews.

“Last year we started the biggest recruitment drive ever seen at EMAS, adding 300 new frontline staff to our service.

“More lives are being saved through our cardiac strategy, with the increase in return of spontaneous circulation for patients in cardiac arrest, and the introduction of Paramedic Pathfinder has helped us improve the urgent care we provide.

“Sue has plenty to be proud of from her time at EMAS, and we will be sorry to say goodbye.”

Sue said: “Leaving has been a very difficult decision, and I am incredibly proud to have been part of the EMAS team.

“Colleagues across the service are tremendously dedicated, and work incredibly hard to help our patients.

“Despite the challenges, I know they will continue to work with others to bring about further improvements for local people.”