Grantham and District Hospital

Grantham and District Hospital
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust

The hospital C. 1900
Shown in Grantham
Geography
Location 101 Manthorpe Rd, Grantham, NG31 8DG, Lincolnshire, England
Coordinates 52°55′15″N 0°38′31″W / 52.92095°N 0.64187°W / 52.92095; -0.64187Coordinates: 52°55′15″N 0°38′31″W / 52.92095°N 0.64187°W / 52.92095; -0.64187
Organisation
Care system NHS
Funding Government hospital
Hospital type District General
Affiliated university Lincolnshire PCT
Services
Emergency department Yes
Beds 184
History
Founded 1874
Links
Website http://www.ulh.nhs.uk ULH
Lists Hospitals in England
Other links WikiMapia

Grantham and District Hospital, is an NHS hospital located in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England.

History

It opened in 1874 as Grantham and Kesteven Hospital. It is one of four main hospitals in Lincolnshire, being the third largest, and covers the Kesteven area of the county, as well as east Leicestershire and Rutland. It is situated on the A607 and can be seen from the East Coast Main Line. Previous to 2000, it was run by Grantham and District Hospitals NHS Trust from 1996. It is now run by the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which initially had its headquarters at Grantham and District Hospital until December 2006. The local health services used to be covered by the Mid Kesteven PCT, but since October 2006 were transferred to Lincolnshire PCT until that was abolished in 2013.

The hospital achieved notoriety in the early 1990s when nurse Beverley Allitt was convicted of killing four young patients and harming nine others with injections. She was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Facilities

It had 24-hour accident and emergency facilities until July 2016 when the trust decided to close it temporarily from 6.30 pm to 9 am as they did not have enough doctors. Attendance at the A&E fell from 80 a day to 60, and admissions to the hospital fell from 14 a day to 12.[1] A march in protest at the closure attracted 6,000 people on 29th October 2016, complaining that it was 30 miles to the nearest A&E.[2]

It deals with mainly acute cases, not chronic cases. These often involve road accidents. Unlike many hospitals (such as QMC), the hospital is mainly a single-storey building, with little need for lifts; the only true multi-storey building is the Midwifery Managed Unit. It covers a large floor area. It has ten wards.

Maternity unit

This unit opened in 1972. Up until July 1998 it had 104 midwives, when it closed. The Grantham-based midwives moved to Lincoln or Boston. In early 1999, a midwifery-led unit (Midwifery Managed Unit) opened to offer a limited maternity service for (predicted) low risk births. Most births are directed to Lincoln or Nottingham (Queen's Medical Centre), involving a lengthy journey that can end in births taking place en route to the hospital, and have led to at least two deaths: the limited facilities currently available will close in February 2014. The University of Nottingham's School of Nursing, midwifery and physiotherapy department has its Grantham Education Site at the hospital, which is a part of the Boston Education Centre.

Future

Doubts remain over the long-term future of the hospital regarding its accident and emergency capability, or its surgery and theatre facilities.

External links

See also

Healthcare in Lincolnshire

References

  1. "A&E night closure sees two patients a night sent elsewhere". Health Service Journal. 4 October 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  2. "Six thousand people march in protest at Grantham A&E cuts". Lincolnshire Reporter. 29 October 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
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