Grantham Hospital looks set to boost its treatment of cancer and other treatments as it specialises on non-coronavirus treatments.

But the move means its A&E will become a 24/7 'Urgent Treatment Centre.'

The board of the United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust, which runs the hospital, plus Lincoln, Boston, and Louth, is looking to approve the move when it meets on Thursday.

A report prepared for the meeting says that in preparing for treating the virus, other services were cut back.

The country has now passed the first peak of the pandemic and national guidance has been issued for all NHS organisations to develop plans to restore some essential non-Covid 19 services.

Despite the numbers of daily confirmed cases and deaths going down, the trust must put in measures to protect patients and staff to increase public confidence in accessing hospital services again.

The report said cutting back non-covid treatments to free up space to treat pandemic patients has now created a backlog of deferred treatments.

"As a result many more patients are now waiting for

have been delayed could suffer harm as a result.

"In planning for this next stage of our response, we must also bear in mind that whilst A&E attendances have been low during the initial phase of the pandemic, the demand for urgent care is now rising again and we must be in a position to continue to safely care for these patients too."

Coronavirus still presented a threat, the report continued, which was likely to continue for 12 more months, and the trust needed to make provision to expand its treatments so people do not suffer from delayed appointments or surgery whilst still offering emergency care and treatment for the coronavirus.

The report said: "This makes managing our hospitals even more complicated than in the past."

Therefore, the 'maximise' what the trust could offer to Lincolnshire, it has assessed what services it could provide, and where, safely.

The report said: "We are recommending the temporary creation of a largely Covid-19 free Green site at Grantham and District Hospital for this next phase of the pandemic.

"This would mean an increase in elective patients

To support this, all patients must have a known Covid-19 status on admission to any ward on that site."

"Therefore, we would need to temporarily change the urgent care offer at the hospital from an A&E, open 8am-6.30pm, to a 24/7 walk-in Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) and transfer unplanned admissions to our other hospitals.

"This is necessary to create isolated facilities and help us monitor and control the risk of infection.

"We believe these temporary changes are the right approach to manage the pandemic in a way that best protects our patients and staff whilst delivering key services.

"These temporary changes will be in place starting from 22nd June until at least 31st March 2021."

Hospital campaigners are 'disgusted' at the move, noting that Grantham's A&E has lost its 24/7 coverage since 2016 despite the move supposedly being 'temporary.'

Coun Ray Wootten said just six weeks ago, ULHT CEO Andrew Morgan told BBC Radio Lincolnshire in a question from the councillors that the trust was not looking to 'downgrade' the A&E using the virus.

Coun Wootten continued: "It's unbelievable after all the negotiation and interaction on various consultations, that once again public opinion is completely ignored."

Cllr. Linda Wootten said " I am disgusted by the news today, as it is now four years since the overnight A&E service has been so called temporary closed overnight, therefore the new measures are a downgrade. The people of Grantham will feel betrayed."

Jody Clark of Fightinh 4 Grantham Hospital called the developments 'shocking' saying was 'annoyed' by them.

"It doesn't make any sense. It means more people will have to travel."

And it could mean them going to a location at greater risk from the virus.

Jody continued: "With such low numbers in the county, it seems ridiculous to have such a radical change. It's all good saying it's temporary but after nearly four years trying to get the A&E back to 24 hours, how can we take anything ULHT says at its word."