Following the temporary closure of the Hartsholme Centre, Lincolnshire’s male psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) in October 2022, patients are set to return from the 3 June.
Following significant workforce pressures across Lincolnshire’s adult mental health wards in 2022, the Trust had to take the difficult decision to stop admissions to the smallest of its mental health wards, the psychiatric intensive care unit in Lincoln (known as the Hartsholme Centre), to redeploy the team to support wards elsewhere.
Chris Higgins, Director of Operations at Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT) explains:
“Whilst it was a difficult decision to take, especially for patients who have needed to travel outside of Lincolnshire for psychiatric intensive care whilst the unit has been closed, it was essential to maintain patient and staff safety.
“Significant work has been done since the closure to recruit, retain and look at new ways of working across the Trust and we are really pleased to now be in a position to safely and sustainably reopen the ward.
“Whilst there have been some further delays incurred due to some water quality issues identified on the ward, these have now been addressed and it is safe for us to start preparing to reopen and welcome patients back.”
The Hartsholme Centre team are currently undertaking a range of refresher training and refamiliarization on the ward and will welcome the first patients back at the start of June.
Chris continued: “We have been very aware of the impact this closure has had on our patients, their families and our staff who have been redeployed and want to thank everybody for their understanding during this difficult time, whilst we prioritised everyone’s safety.”
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