Builders worked into the night and over weekends to transform a vacant poultry hatchery in Grantham into a physiotherapy treatment centre.

Two construction teams from Lindum worked shifts between 7am to 11pm to get the unit ready for NHS patients.

The project was part of a major effort by United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust to temporarily transfer outpatient and diagnostic services from Grantham and District Hospital into community locations.

Grantham hospital has been turned into a ‘green’ site, which means it is being kept Covid-free. This means it can be used to treat urgent surgical and cancer patients who previously had their treatment delayed by the pandemic.

To keep the hospital safe, the Trust had to relocate some public services and has been working to find alternative locations from which to operate.

Food producer Moy Park offered its disused hatchery in Gonerby Road, Grantham, and the Trust appointed Lindum to transform the building.

Contracts manager Shaun Cass had two site managers on the project, one working an early shift and the other working a late shift.

“We are on site by 7am and working through to 11pm. We also had two teams of builders and subcontractors on the project,” he said.

“As a result we are able to get the project completed in half the time and hand the unit over to the Trust quickly.

“We had to strip out the structure and create a bare shell before installing all the necessary services. We then turned it into nine consulting rooms, a utility room and a toilet block.

“In all, it took nine weeks to complete and we are really happy with how the work progressed. It’s also very satisfying to be part of the NHS response to the Covid-19 pandemic.”

As well as the physiotherapy service, ULHT has relocated other clinics to the Gonerby Road Health Clinic. These include ultrasound, radiology and x-rays, cardiac physiology, audiology for adults and children, respiratory physiology, abdominal aortic aneurysm screening, gastrological clinics and diabetic eye services.

Andrew Morgan, Chief Executive of ULHT said: “As a board we had to make some important decisions about turning Grantham and District Hospital into a temporary Green site so we could carry out essential urgent and cancer surgeries.

“To date, we have now undertaken 882 surgeries, as well as being able to deliver chemotherapy treatments to over 50 patients a day at Grantham and District Hospital.

“The Gonerby Road Health Clinic will ultimately be able to cater for up to 250 patients a week in clinics that include orthotics, MSK physiotherapy, Neuro Physio, Women’s health Physio, Rehab Medicine, Dietetics and possibly paediatrics.

“This development gives us two extra Outpatient clinic rooms, which will also give us capacity to see an extra 130 people a week. Meanwhile, if the Xray is working at maximum capacity it can treat 30 patients a day.”

Andrea Carver, General Manager at Moy Park said: “The Gonerby Road Health Clinic provides essential health services to the local community and we are proud to support the continued delivery of key clinics through the provision of this additional space.

“Our team feels an immense sense of pride supporting key workers and communities in the local area – through charity donations, volunteering efforts and our Community Support Fund – and we are glad to broaden this support to the NHS clinic.”

Lindum was awarded the project through the Pagabo framework.

Regional Relationship Manager Emma Hesbrook said: “We were delighted to play our part in bringing an essential new NHS site to Grantham.

“Because the project qualified under ‘Procurement Policy Note 1/20: Responding to COVID-19’ we were also more than happy to waive our fees to ensure all public money was spent on bringing the new service into operation as soon as possible.

“We feel real pride in being able to support the NHS and the suppliers in this way at such an important time.”