Hospital to reconsider plans to move services

Scunthorpe General Hospital could retain some emergency services and children's treatments

Plans to move emergency care and some children's services from Scunthorpe General Hospital are to be reconsidered.

Originally, overnight care, where children require a more than 24 hours stay in hospital, was to be moved to Grimsby's Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital.

Following a consultation, it is proposed that paediatric services will remain at both hospitals.

Plans to move overnight emergency surgery to Grimsby are also under review, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Emergency surgery will now be shared across hospitals in northern Lincolnshire and Hull, depending on the treatment required.

Plans for the trauma unit and individuals with heart, lung or stomach conditions who require a longer stay in hospital will be moved to Grimsby. 

If the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) agrees to the revised proposals, it is anticipated around seven patients a day would be transferred from Scunthorpe to Grimsby.

The local NHS says the proposed changes will help deliver “seven-day consultant-led care” across specialist services, improve the quality of care that patients receive, and reduce length of hospital stays.

North Lincolnshire Council had threatened to seek a judicial review over the plans to move the trauma unit and out-of-hours emergency surgery.

Some services will be moved to Grimsby's Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital

Anja Hazebroek, from the ICB, said: “The proposal we consulted on was designed to ensure the sustainable delivery of a small number of hospital services that would meet the needs of patients across the region now and in the future, as well as tackling a range of challenges faced by the NHS in our region.

“We were eager to seek the views of those most likely to be impacted by change and ensure everyone who wanted to take part and share their views was given sufficient opportunities, sufficient information and sufficient time to do so."

The ICB board will meet on 10 July to discuss the proposals.

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