Campaigners for Grantham and District Hospital have criticised "miscommunication" by a health trust over a lack of access to online appointment bookings via the NHS111 service, after it was revealed that the wait for a new digital service has meant residents only have a capacity of around one slot per hour on the current system.

When Grantham's 24-hour Urgent Treatment Centre was opened in October last year, patients were assured of booked appointment opportunities to replace the out of hours GP facility in the town.

However, works to install a new digital system has meant this service has been very limited ever since. Campaigners in the area have said that the system is limited to around one available appointment per hour.

This, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) says, is a result of procuing and installing a new online booking system, which is expected to be operational by the end of February.

It is the latest headache for Grantham residents to handle in this long-running saga with Grantham & District Hospital, which had its Accident & Emergency Department downgraded to an Urgent Treatment Centre after years of campaigning and protests at a lack of adequate services for the town.

South Kesteven District Councillor Charmaine Morgan (pictured above), who is on both the district council's Health Scrutiny and ULHT's Patient panels, has said the trust's communication over the current booking system has been "really misleading."

"We were given the impression that we'd have a walk-in 24/7 Urgent Treatment Centre, which would have additional staffing levels," Cllr Morgan said. "That is the message the trust sent out during this key time as our A&E had been downgraded to a UTC.

"They did not give any high profile to the fact you'd have to book through 111 for later hours. The material now from the trust now implies that you have to.

"I think this is a genuine miscommunication and now the public, as well as the councillors who supported the original downgrade, are faced with having a dependency on a system that clearly isn't working.

"One appointment an hour is ridiculous, where's the urgency in that? It sounds more like a GP practice to me."

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs and operates Grantham & District Hospital, has also said that patients can still access the walk-in services at the hospital 24 hours a day.

Julie Frake-Harris, Chief Operating Officer for Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust and United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "Booked appointments are available at Grantham Urgent Treatment Centre and this has been in place since the launch of the 24-hour service in October 2023.

"However, the number of appointments is temporarily limited to allow the procurement and installation of a new digital appointments system.

"We anticipate the new system will be in place by the end of February 2024, allowing us to further increase the number of available appointments and bring Grantham in line with all of the other Urgent Treatment Centres across Lincolnshire.

"An interim system remains in place to ensure booked appointments can still be accessed in Grantham. Patients can also continue to walk in to access the service 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

It is believed that this issue is exclusive only to Grantham, and other areas across Lincolnshire should be able to book their appointments via NHS111 as normal.

Jody Clark, who is the campaign lead for Fighting 4 Grantham Hospital, said: "After being made aware by patients that they were unable to access appointments via 111 at Grantham's UTC, I tried to seek some clarification from the local providers.

"I was then told that the system is very limited at present, with approximately one appointment per hour available, which is not what was expected by the local population by the messaging given out in October 2023.

"The impression was given that appointments would be available, as we no longer have an out of hours GP facility and as the enhanced UTC has a GP staff mix, we expected the appointment system to pick up this out of hours service?

"Thankfully, February is not far away! So at least patients will not have to wait too much longer to be able to access those appointments, as expected, but until then, I would suggest they just walk in."

Cllr Charmaine Morgan went on to say that issues like this could be a "slippery slope" for the future viability of Grantham's Urgent Treatment Centre, and urges clear messaging from the health trust moving forward.

"People need to know, otherwise they could be risking their life. This brings with it problems that the site might not be viable in the future.

"Because of the extended staffing levels at Grantham, if they aren't used we will lose that amenity too, because that is exactly how they have operated in the past."