In June 2020 ULHT closed Grantham and District Hospital in response to the Covid 19 epidemic. At the time they argued the loss of services was temporary.

No public consultation took place prior to the loss of services. The cuts in inpatient and outpatient services were to have a huge impact on thousands of people reliant on the hospital which serves a catchment area of 120000 residents alone.

This resulted in a Judicial Review taking place 5 March 2021 led by one resident Mrs Jayne Dawson who SOS Grantham Hospital were pleased to support. ULHT were found guilty of failing to consult and were advised had they done so their actions may have been different.

In March 2021 ULHT announced the restoration of services at Grantham and District Hospital however their plans were made with minimal public intervention, again, and fell far short of restoring all original services.

SOSGH formerly objected both to ULHT and to Simon Stevens, NHS England, who was required to sign off the plans. Since then ULHT have made a further announcement on Wednesday 30 June 2021. SOSGH have examined the latest announcement. Chair SOS Grantham Hospital Cllr Charmaine Morgan said: "Whilst ULHT have made significant welcome improvements since their public announcement in March 2021, their latest proposals unfortunately still leave some very important concerns. "It appears there are still no plans to fully restore the Acute Care Unit as it existed in June 2020. It is our understanding therefore that patients attending A&E will not have the full backing of the ACU and all of the treatments it could then provide. It is good to see ULHT adopt our proposal to retain at least some 24/7 service on site but we still seek the restoration of a 24/7 A&E after it was closed at night in August 2016 as a temporary measure. "The restoration of 2 of the 3 long stay Medical Wards is welcome but again without the ACU the range of care available in June 2020 will be reduced. We do welcome plans to add a third ward to cope with winter pressures. "I understand the Emerald Suite is to return. This will restore local scans and is a big achievement. ULHT were stating it would take up to 3 years to restore these services. We said this was unacceptable. This news is therefore very welcome and a huge improvement on local women having to travel to Ruskington and elsewhere for scans. However, I understand that those needing treatment, including for breast cancer, will still be required to travel. This needs to be resolved within a clear and acceptable time frame. "As ULHT announced last June it would be restoring services this March, and, changes were only temporary, they should have been in continuous contact with the deanery to ensure all grades of junior trainee doctors, who start this summer, will be able to train at GDH. However this appears not to be the case. Our trainee doctors may have been allocated to hospitals elsewhere instead. If so, ULHT should be able to rectify this to ensure our medical wards are fully resourced and the full compliment of trainees and their services returned to our hospital. "Our main concern however is that without the ACU being restored our A&E unit not will not be able treat the scope and severity of cases it did before. Acutely ill patients will have to be referred elsewhere. This will require transporting patients and reliance on our stretched ambulance service. "The future of our District Hospital depends on the ability to continue to provide a wide range of acute care supporting our A&E, post operative patients and Medical wards. Without the ACU functioning as it did GDH will become a cottage hospital focusing on mainly planned surgery. This is simply not an appropriate strategy for a town as large as Grantham with significant growth plans especially given some areas also an hour to the next nearest A & E. If ULHT fail to fully restore the services it must bring into question how sustainable the towns growth plans are. Given the scale of South Kesteven District Council's growth plans there is also an argument to restore the Midwifery Unit removed from GDH in 2013. "Whilst the restoration of services announced so far is appreciated and welcome a time frame for the full restoration of all services previously on site in June 2020 is needed. Otherwise the differences in service constitute a change. "We look forward to seeing further restoration plans from ULHT which would then enable them to accurately state all services have been restored." District Councillor Charmaine Morgan

Chair SOS Grantham Hospital