Covid: Lincolnshire hospitals move out of 'critical incident' level

The trust runs hospitals in Lincoln, Boston and Grantham

A hospital trust has moved out of a "critical incident" status after an improvement in staffing levels.

High demand and 10% staff absence led the United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (ULHT) to declare an emergency on 1 January.

On Wednesday, the trust declared a "major incident", the highest level of alert, after the water supply failed at Grantham Hospital.

It returned to "critical", the second highest level, the following day.

Hospitals in Lincoln, Boston and Grantham cancelled some surgery and outpatients appointments, although emergency care remained open during the "critical" status.

The trust said despite lowering its incident level, it remained in a "challenging position".

Chief executive Andrew Morgan said on Wednesday around 780 staff were absent, "twice what we would normally expect", with with just over 300 off work for Covid-related reasons and the hospital was bringing in military personnel to help out.

He added that the 20 military medics would help "try and get those shifts back up to the levels that we would like to see the staffing at".

In a statement on the downgrading of the incident level, the trust thanked its staff "who continue to work tirelessly to care for their patients and support their colleagues as we work hard to restore our services".

It also apologised for any inconvenience to patients and said it would be rescheduling missed surgeries and appointments.

The statement added: "We ask the public to help support us in managing the high demand for services. We ask people to only attend A&E with serious or life threatening illnesses and to seek alternative support for on-going problems or minor injuries."