Nuclear Medicine Consultation

Launch of 12-week public consultation on the future of nuclear medicine services

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust has today launched a 12 week public consultation into the future of its nuclear medicine service.

Nuclear medicine is a specialist imaging technique involving the administration of radioactive substances (called radiopharmaceuticals) in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

There are over 20 different tests that nuclear medicine can perform and they look at conditions as diverse as Parkinson’s disease to delayed gastric emptying. In ULHT hospitals, the most common tests performed are bone scans and heart scans.

The service is currently provided from three hospitals in Lincolnshire - Lincoln County Hospital, Grantham and District Hospital and Pilgrim Hospital, Boston. The service sees around 2,500 patients per year for very specialist tests.

The service has long faced challenges around staffing, aging equipment and sustainability, and therefore it has been deemed unsustainable in its current format.

Today, a consultation is being launched on identified options to reduce the number of hospital sites that the service could be delivered from in future. These options have been developed by hospital clinicians, and shaped by patient representatives.

The options are:

  • Option 1: Centralisation of the service at Lincoln
  • Option 2: Centralisation of the service at two sites- Lincoln and Pilgrim

The consultation will run until Monday 23 May 2022.

Staff, patients and the public of Lincolnshire are invited to give their views as part of this consultation, ahead of a decision being made about the future of the service later this year.

We would welcome your support to encourage your members, constituents, staff and contacts to participate in this consultation.

To take part, please see the consultation web page.

Feedback can also be provided in the following ways:

Friday, 4th March 2022