The inspectorate for fire and police services has praised Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue’s work over the last year.

Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has inspected how each of the 45 fire and rescue services in England responded to challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lincolnshire has received an incredibly positive report.

Cllr Nick Worth, executive councillor for emergency services at the county council, said: “It’s really heartening to see that the exceptional work our firefighters have been doing to support communities in Lincolnshire has been recognised by HMICFRS when they carried out their assessment. They have picked out many great examples of joined-up working and our firefighters and staff going above and beyond in challenging circumstances.”

Mark Baxter, Interim Chief Fire Officer for Lincolnshire, said: “In Lincolnshire we’ve had really positive engagement with our unions and crews to support them in the additional duties they’ve taken on, and I’m pleased to report that we have had only enthusiasm and an incredible willingness to help.

“We also have well-established relationships with other emergency services and partner organisations both within the Local Resilience Forum and beyond. This has put us in an even better position to help the combined response to this pandemic.

“There have of course been challenges and we have worked really hard behind the scenes to change how we operate safely, particularly for some of our community protection activities and so we can maintain staffing.

“I’m pleased that HMICFRS have recognised that our staff wellbeing has been a main priority. The action we’ve taken though has meant we have been able to offer a consistently good level of response to emergencies, and continue to protect those residents at most risk of harm.”

An estimated 1,350kg of donations, the equivalent of around 3,213 meals, have been distributed across 40 community larders and food banks in December thanks to the generosity of local people.

Lincolnshire Co-op shoppers and colleagues collected essential items and also donated £16,675 of their dividend and cash throughout December 2020 in order to support those in need.

The Society reversed the traditional advent calendar format and instead, suggested one item each day that shoppers could drop in collection bins in their local outlets. These items ranged from tinned goods to toiletries and cleaning products.

Food banks typically experience an increased in demand over the festive season, but this year the need for community support was unprecedented.

Jenni Harding, Newark Food Bank’s Public Relations and Fundraising Co-ordinator said the food bank saw its highest ever demand in 2020, but also experienced the most donations they’ve ever received over the festive period. She said: “Donations are vital to us – if the local community didn’t support us, we wouldn’t be able to do our job and help others.

“We understand that Christmas is a busy and expensive time for everyone, so thank you so much to those who took the time to donate to the Food Bank Advent Calendar campaign.”

Donations continue to arrive at food banks throughout January, as those participating from home, work, or school were encouraged to collect their donations over the month and take them to food banks, community larders, or drop-off points at the end of the advent calendar campaign.

Sam Turner, Community Manager at Lincolnshire Co-op said: “We’re so grateful to everyone who donated to our Food Bank Advent Calendar campaign.

 “Thanks to the generosity of our shoppers, members, and colleagues, we’ve been able to support the important work of local food banks in our area and help feed families at Christmas at beyond.”

A Lincolnshire consultant has won a national award thanks to his working alongside finance teams in Lincolnshire’s hospitals.

Mr Kulandaivel Sakthivel, an orthopaedics consultant known best as Vel, won the Working with Finance – Clinician of the Year Award at the annual Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) Awards.

The awards, held on Thursday 10 December, are a chance to recognise the work of finance teams and individuals across the UK.

This award acknowledges the importance of clinical engagement in financial management and in particular recognises a clinician who has taken financial responsibility for their services, led efficiency or improvement programmes or provided an example for other clinicians by engaging with the financial management agenda.

Vel was greatly involved throughout a Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) pilot and the subsequent and ongoing changes in trauma and orthopaedics following the review. Vel has engaged heavily with both his finance and procurement leads – showing a real business focus, with a willingness to challenge his clinical colleagues to provide ultimately a better service for our patients and an improved financial position.

As clinical lead Vel had the responsibility of driving forward changes to improve the number of elective surgeries taking place. He reviewed financial opportunities, such as moving to single suppliers, and then getting this implemented across all ULHT sites.

The judges said: “We are impressed by the very close collaboration between the clinical, finance and management team to address the reorganisation of orthopaedic services at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust using GIRFT data and winning hearts and minds.

“A blueprint and momentum have been produced to use the same approach across the trust in other clinical services and has created a can-do approach to change based on clinical and financial collaboration.”

Vel gave his immense thanks to Sally Cotterill, Kirsty Stanley and all in the Finance team.

“I work with a great team of both clinical and non-clinical staff and it makes my job a lot easier. I am proud to be an employee of ULHT and very happy to see that we are in the press for a great achievement. Being nominated in eight categories and shortlisted in three for national awards is no mean feat. Let’s keep up the good work and make ULHT great!”

ULHT’s Director of Finance and Digital, Paul Matthew said:” This is the first time we have entered in the HFMA awards, so we are extremely proud to have been shortlisted for three awards and to have won one! We wanted to highlight the immense hard work of our finance teams and will be displaying this award with pride.”