A date has now been confirmed for the opening of a new 24/7 Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) at Grantham and District Hospital, which has been long awaited by patients and the public.

The new Grantham UTC will open on Tuesday 31 October 2023.

This will replace the hospital's A&E Department, which since 2016 has only been open from 8am to 6.30pm each day.

This service change comes as a result of a consultation led by Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group (now Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board) into four acute services which took place last year, known as the Acute Services Review. Following the 12-week consultation and the feedback received from the public, Lincolnshire ICB agreed that the people of Grantham and surrounding areas needed a 24 hour urgent care service.

The Grantham A&E Department became a day time only service in 2016 as a result of severe staffing challenges, which made delivering an overnight service unsafe.

Since then, work has been underway to expand the service to a 24/7 offer which can provide safe and appropriate care for the people who need it.

From Tuesday 31 October, patients will be able to walk in to the new UTC 24 hours a day, and access bookable appointments available 24 hours per day via 111. 

The UTC will provide an extensive range of assessment and treatment that meets the needs of the local population, offering additional diagnostic capabilities and enhanced staffing compared to other UTCs in the county. 

These urgent care services can treat a wide range of conditions which are not critical or life threatening such as sprains and strains, suspected broken limbs and feverish illness in adults and children. The UTC will also provide access to X-ray, CT and MRI scanners and will be backed up with a new integrated community and acute medical service provided jointly with our partners at Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS).

In addition to the services offered at the UTC, clinical assessment and stabilisation will be undertaken for any patients who need to be transferred onward to other hospitals for their care.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust Chief Operating Officer Michelle Harris said: "We are pleased to be able to restore a 24 hour service to Grantham and District Hospital.

"This new service will be an Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) which is equipped to see and treat the vast majority of patients who would previously have been seen in the A&E Department at the site. 

"Due to the limitations of the hospital's size, staffing and available support services, the A&E at Grantham has only been able to treat a limited number of patients for a number of years, with those suffering from serious trauma, heart attacks, strokes and paediatric emergencies being directed to other hospitals for specialist care.

"The service offered at the new UTC will be very similar, and will be delivered by a skilled range of doctors, GPs, practitioners and nursing staff, many of whom have worked in the A&E at Grantham for many years.

"It will also be an 'enhanced' UTC compared to others in the county, offering additional diagnostic capabilities and enhanced staffing, which we believe will safely serve the people of Grantham and the surrounding areas."

Medical Director for Lincolnshire ICB, Sunil Hindocha, said: "We're pleased that the decision taken following public consultation on this service is now being implemented, giving people local to Grantham the 24/7 access to urgent and emergency care services they told us was so important in their feedback."