NHS well prepared for influx of summer visitors

1.68 million people visited East Lindsey over the summer season in 2024

The NHS in Lincolnshire says it is well-prepared for the surge in summer visitors to the coast.

Each year the population of Skegness swells from 20,000 to around 250,000, due to tourists visiting the coast.

Rebecca Neno from the Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board said it was "something we anticipate and plan for each year".

The East Lindsey area enjoyed a record-breaking tourism year in 2024, with the seaside resorts and Lincolnshire Wolds receiving a total of 1.68 million summer visitors.

"We are quite unique in the area with our summer surge of holidaymakers – most other places get a dip," Ms Neno said.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, urgent treatment centres in Skegness, Louth and Boston Pilgrim Hospital are busier in the summer months than during the winter.

"We put a plan in place every year to make sure we're ready, and I have no concern about the negative impact of tourism.

"If anything, the number of visitors each summer is growing – the staycation boom after Covid hasn't dropped off in Lincolnshire."

She said families with young children tend to see more minor illnesses, slips, trips and falls, "which can be easily dealt with".

"Older people nowadays are typically living with more than one condition such as breathing problems, diabetes or frailty, which does put extra demand on community nurses and more urgent services," she added.

Her biggest advice to holidaymakers is not to forget their medication, come with a First Aid kit and "behave as you would at home!"

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