‘We’re still here for you,’ say health chiefs as local hospitals are rocked
STAFF absences caused by Covid-19 isolation have rocketed across hospitals in Derbyshire, while wards have become fuller and ambulances continue to queue outside A&E, data has shown.
A total of 6,630 days were lost at Derbyshire hospitals in just one week earlier this month, because staff were sick or self-isolating due to Covid.
That was up 61.9% from 4,094 the week before, and up 107.5% from 3,195 days lost a fortnight ago.
There were 2,263 staff absent for any reason on January 2, the equivalent of one in eight members of staff being off being off for Covid, as well as other sickness and stress.
While the area was hit by rising staff absences, the figures from NHS England also show increasingly under pressure wards and emergency departments.
On January 2, 90.6% of the 1,827 beds open across Derbyshire hospitals were full.
That compares to a 88.9% occupancy rate on December 26 (although this may be lower than at other times, as planned care is less likely to take place over Christmas).
Delays to discharges can leave wards with higher occupancy rates and make it more difficult to admit people from A&E.
On Sunday, Derbyshire hospitals had 127 beds occupied by patients who no longer needed to be in hospital, but who hadn’t been discharged.
That was the equivalent of 6.8% of the general and acute and adult critical care beds across the trust.
The figures for this week compare to 169 beds occupied on the Sunday
before, or 8.9% of beds. Outside A&ES, a total of 312 ambulances had to wait more than 30 minutes to hand over patients at Derbyshire hospital A&ES last week (20.1%), including 73 waiting more than an hour (4.7%).
That’s the equivalent of one in five ambulances facing a wait of more than half-an-hour, with one in 21 waiting more than an hour.
The target is for handovers to take under 15 minutes.
In the previous week, 207 ambulances waited half-an-hour or longer (14.1%), with 31 waiting more than an hour (2.1%).
Waiting times for ambulances arriving to drop off patients have worsened compared to the figures for the same week (ending January 3) last year.
In the equivalent week last year, 176 ambulances waited more than 30 minutes (9.2%), with 27 waiting more than an hour (1.4%).
Across England, more than 80,000 staff were absent each day on average, up from 71,000 last week, a 13% rise.
On average, 36,000 of those absences were due to Covid, up from 25,000 the week before – almost