The number of deaths in Lincolnshire’s hospitals are at an all-time low thanks to new and improved initiatives to increase the quality of care for patients.
 
The mortality rate for United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust has fallen to the lowest rate ever as staff continue to implement across-the-board improvements in patient care, leading to 208 less deaths than expected between April 2018 and March 2019.
 
Data on mortality rates, known as Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratio (HSMR), shows that the current score for the Trust is now at an average of 89.43 for the last year, performing within the best 22% of Trusts nationally.
 
HSMR is designed to assess whether the number of hospital deaths is higher or lower than expected, depending on the case mix of patients involved. It is calculated by healthcare analysis organisation Dr Foster and the national average is given a score of 100.
 
The Trust was placed in quality special measures after its higher-than-expected mortality rates for 2012/13 prompted a review by Sir Bruce Keogh, Medical Director for England. The current HSMR is the lowest recorded since then.
 
For the Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator (SHMI), the current performance for ULHT is also within expected limits at 109.92 .This measure looks at all in-hospital deaths as well as those deaths where the patient died 30 days after discharge from hospital.
 
Key areas where improvements have been made are:

• Improved cleanliness and infection rates.
• Introduction of medical examiner roles to review every death.
• In-depth reviews into issues with certain health conditions.
• Workshops with clinicians around accurate documentation.
• Improved use of care bundles
• Investment in the clinical coding department to ensure engagement with clinical staff and accurate recording of patient’s conditions and reflection of the care received.
• System-wide working across Lincolnshire to improve care and identify shared learning. 

Dr Neill Hepburn, Medical Director at ULHT, said: “This is a fantastic achievement and is due to the hard work of all our staff. We can’t underestimate the massive progress we have made as a Trust over the past few years.
 
“There’s no single factor that led to the reduction, it is due to widespread improvements to quality of patient care and fostering a safety culture at our hospitals.
 
“To have achieved a reduction from 113 to 89.42 is a real testament to everyone’s hard work and commitment to improve patient care. Every member of staff has contributed to this improvement journey. 
 
“We won’t sit on our laurels. There is still more work to be done and we are working hard to get out of special measures and continue to make long-term changes to the quality of our services.”

Over the past 20 years soundLINCS has been on a journey, touching the lives of many different people from all backgrounds unleashing potential through music. 

soundLINCS is delighted to be the lead organisation, which draws together 13 partners on a new arts initiative in Lincolnshire.

soundLINCS is currently seeking a Part Time Producer to assist the partnership in contributing to the development of arts and music opportunities throughout Lincolnshire as part of its Future of the Past Heritage Lottery funded project.

The Future of the Past project aims to place groups of young people at heritage sites across the County to work together with the site to reinterpret an aspect of the heritage from a youth perspective and make it engaging for other young people and families.

The successful candidate will be responsible for working with each heritage site and to co-ordinate all the processes involved in the project, assisting with the management and delivery of the project, monitoring progress against the project’s approved purposes and preparing progress reports.

The closing date for applications is 22^nd July 2019 with interviews being held on 5^th August 2019.  For further information and a candicate pack visit soundLINCS Website – http://www.soundlincs.org/about-us/work-with-us/

Alternatively, please contact Shelley on 01522 510073, email shelley@soundlincs.org

The next meeting of the Board of Directors for Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust will take place in public on Thursday, 25 July 2019 at 9.00am at the Trust’s Headquarters, St George’s, Long Leys Road, Lincoln, LN1 1FS.

Once again, the Board will receive important feedback on patient experience of services. The meeting will receive a report from the Chief Executive, in addition to a performance report, setting out the Trust’s progress against the key performance targets it has to meet for quality, activity and finance.

The Board will receive a number of annual reports for 2018/19 on a number of subjects, namely; safe working, equality, the Mental Health Act (MHA), Freedom to Speak Up (FTSU) and charitable funds. The Deputy Medical Director will present reports on learning from deaths and the Trust’s suicide prevention strategy. Board members will also review and consider approval of the Trust’s Standing Financial Instructions and Scheme of Delegation.

Paul Devlin, Trust Chair, said: “Our board meetings give people a chance to find out more about the work of the Trust and the services we provide for the community of Lincolnshire. The public are very welcome to attend and listen to the discussions and to submit questions to us at the beginning of the meeting if they wish.”

This meeting is open to members of the public and interested parties. To register your interest in attending the meeting and/or to table a question, please contact Karen Scott on 01522 309175, or email karen.scott@lpft.nhs.uk.  

A vigilant employee prevented a major fraud against the county council when scammers tried to falsely change bank account details of a contractor.

The council’s IT security blocks most spam and malicious emails, however a more sophisticated email scam had reached finance staff, informing them a supplier had changed their bank account information.

Lucy Pledge, audit and risk manager at the council, said:

“The correspondence to the council looked entirely genuine and identical to official letters from this supplier. Because the staff member took the time to double check using an independent phone number -not the one in the letter- they quickly discovered this was fraudulent. The next payment due to be made to this supplier was £1.5m.”  

The council’s IT systems blocked 7993 malicious emails during May alone, on top of 276,241 emails deemed to be spam.

Cllr Alex Maughan, the council’s fraud champion, said:

“Bank mandate fraud is just one type of scam that the council is targeted with every day. We take all fraud seriously and our staff receive specific training to pick up on anything that may not be genuine. We are not an easy target and continue to make every effort to protect public money.”

The council takes a multi-layered approach to preventing digital scams and doesn’t just rely on one set of safeguards. By using technology such as email security, fraud and security policies and staff training and awareness, the risk of fraud taking place is reduced.

The incident was reported to Action Fraud.

You can find more information about fraud against councils in Lincolnshire on Lincolnshire County Council’s website. Fraud against councils can also be reported through the confidential hotline on 0800 0853716 or e-mail whistleblowing@lincolnshire.gov.uk 

Stamford man caught by paedophile hunter

Police are urgently seeking to locate 39-year-old Stephen Tierney who absconded from North Sea Camp yesterday (Wednesday).

Tierney is around 5’7, small build, brown / ginger hair, with a tattoo saying “wrist” on his right arm.

He was last seen in Boston Market Place yesterday. He may have used public transport to travel to Lincoln. Tierney has connections to Northamptonshire and London.

Tierney has been assessed as posing a medium risk of violence towards the public who are advised not to approach him. He is serving a sentence for a previous rape offence. Any sightings or information please contact 101 quoting incident number 316 of 3 July. If an emergency, call 999.  

Bourne woman denies attempted murder

One down: Councillor denies crossword and call distractions

An upcoming event at the North Sea Observatory in Chapel St Leonards will be showcasing everything the Lincolnshire coast has to offer this summer.

On Wednesday 10 July, the county council is hosting a special event at the North Sea Observatory in Chapel St Leonards to mark the start of the summer season, alongside representatives from East Lindsey District Council and Lincolnshire Coastal Destination BID.

Cllr Colin Davie, executive member for economy and place, said: “For generations, Lincolnshire’s seaside towns have been among the UK’s most popular holiday destinations, and they continue to evolve, offering more and more to visitors each year.

“They are the bedrock of our tourism industry, which brings in around £1.5bn to the local economy each year, and their success deserves to be celebrated.

“However, we also want to take the opportunity to remind people that our wonderful coast has much more to offer, and where better to do that than at the fantastic North Sea Observatory.  

“During the warmer months, our unspoilt beaches are the ideal location for paddling, picnics, sandcastles, beach cricket and kite flying.

“But there are great opportunities for walking, cycling, and bird watching all year round, and a wealth of wildlife and plant-life to explore.  

“And those with an interest in the natural world will love the recently revamped Gibraltar Point and our many other nature reserves.

“Of course, we’d also recommend visitors take the time to go inland and visit some of our lovely village pubs and historic market towns, or add variety to their walks or cycle rides by covering the coastal grazing marshes and the Lincolnshire Wolds.

“We hope that by showcasing the exciting combination of our traditional seaside towns and the many wonders of our natural coast we’ll be able to attract new visitors, boosting the local tourism economy.” 

Plans to squeeze more homes into huge Sleaford development

Man was blackmailed after online sexual contact with ‘boy’

Man jailed for ‘disgraceful’ drug attack on disabled mum

With ferocious dinosaurs, a troupe of Victorian circus performers and a planetarium, it’s no surprise the county council has scooped the prize for best non-agricultural stand at this year’s Lincolnshire Show.

Each year, the authority uses the Lincolnshire Show as an opportunity to engage with residents, highlighting the many services that it provides and how it works towards a better future for our local communities.  

Cllr Martin Hill, Leader of Lincolnshire County Council, said: “This year’s stand had so much for people to get involved in, and we had lots of visitors trying their hand at our fairground games and ping-pong challenge.

“Our large-scale dinosaur models, Victorian acrobats, fire-eater and mobile planetarium were among the biggest draws in the showground, attracting people onto our site like never before.

“That gave us a fantastic opportunity to tell people about all the many services we have to offer, as well as promoting the exciting events coming up at our heritage attractions to visitors from outside the county.

“And, as always, our councillors were on hand to listen to the issues that are important to our residents and explain how we can help them.

“I’m delighted the efforts of all involved have been rightly recognised with this award.”

Activists find Lincolnshire farm chickens in ‘horrifying conditions’

70 Air & Defence students graduate at RAF Cranwell