NHS North East Lincolnshire CCG (NEL CCG) & Northern Lincolnshire & Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLAG) came together to hold our first virtual event of 2021 which took place on Thursday 14^th January, 5pm – 6:15pm. More than 60 members of the public, Accord members, and representatives of local organisations joined the Zoom webinar ‘2021 – the year ahead for your local NHS’ to hear about the latest work to roll out the Covid vaccines, tackle the pandemic, and support the health and care system in North East Lincolnshire. You can view a full recording of the event by clicking here (this link takes you to an external video hosting website.)

Shaun Stacey, Chief Operating Officer at NLAG– the organisation which manages Diana Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby, discussed the impact that the ongoing pandemic has had on the Trust, including the impact on staffing and an increase in the number of people waiting for routine operations. Shaun discussed the amazing work of staff at the Trust to treat Covid patients as well as continuing to care for patients with other health needs and thanked the local community for the continued support they have given to health and social care staff – especially through ‘Clap for Carers’.

Dr Peter Melton, NEL CCG Clinical Chief Officer and local GP explained how the national Covid vaccine programme is being delivered by Primary Care Networks at four practices across North East Lincolnshire, and the work that is taking place with NLaG and local mental health provider Navigo to provide vaccines to health and social care staff. Dr Melton also discussed the work that is ongoing to develop ‘long Covid’ clinics in the Humber region, and answered questions from the public regarding the vaccine programme.

Keeping patients and staff safe within Urgent & Emergency Care facilities during the pandemic has been a key area of work over the past 12 months. Helen Kenyon, NEL CCG Chief Operating Officer took the time to explain some of the challenges that this area of our health system has faced during the pandemic – including ensuring appropriate social distancing is in place. Helen discussed the work that has taken place to strengthen and develop existing services such as NHS111 and the promotion of this as a first point of contact (except in emergencies) to help ensure that patients receive the appropriate help and only attend A&E services when needed. Helen also explained that NHS111 is now able to allocate timeslots to patients who are identified as needing to attend A&E, helping to manage the flow of patients into the department and keeping everyone safe.

Ivan McConnell, Director of the Humber Acute Services Review, attended the webinar to provide an update on the work of the ongoing review into hospital services, and explained how local people can get involved and help shape plans going forward. Ivan also discussed how the Review is seeking to source significant funding to develop the hospital estate in the Humber region.

Dr Peter Reading, Chief Executive at NLAG, took the opportunity to express his thanks to all health and social care staff for their incredible work during the pandemic. Work has continued at NLAG to respond to the Care Quality Commission reports with significant progress having been made in recent years to improve in a number of areas. Dr Reading also updated on the exciting capital investment programme which is seeing new A&E facilities built at Grimsby & Scunthorpe hospitals, as well as further investment in different areas of the organisation.

As always, the event closed with a question-and-answer session, giving people the opportunity to quiz our local health and care leaders. A wide range of topics were covered in the questions including the recruitment of doctors into the area, as well as the local Covid vaccine programme. You can read all of the questions, and answers, by clicking here

We have received some great feedback from those who have attended our digital events over the past six months, and we are already starting to plan our next event, ‘The Way Forward’ which will be held in March. We will share more information in the coming weeks, and please spread the word to your friends and family and encourage them to join us for our next event.