Fall in Covid patients at our hospitals but still ‘a long road ahead’

THERE are fewer than 60 Covid-19 patients in hospitals in Derby, Chesterfield and Burton, down from a high of more than 700.

Our hospital health leadership have warned that while numbers have drastically reduced and there is “room for optimism”, “there is still a long road ahead”.

The immediate pressure of extremely high numbers of inpatients with the virus has greatly receded.

The pace of the current reduction in patient numbers has slowed and this may be due to the complex nature of the ailments many are suffering with, requiring longer stays in care even if staff managed to keep them out of intensive units and off ventilators.

However, Covid inpatient numbers have still fallen by nearly 92 per cent since the January peak, which saw all of our hospitals set pandemic highs.

There are currently, as of March 22, 57 Covid-19 patients in our hospitals.

Royal Derby Hospital is treating 17 patients who have the virus, down from 20 last week and an all-time high of 388 in mid-January – a reduction of 96 per cent.

Intensive care staff at the Royal Derby are looking after nine Covid-19 patients, half the level it reached in January and far below the nearly 30 it reached in the first wave.

These numbers have been kept much lower than in the first wave due

to new and improved treatment options and better understanding of the virus, including widespread infection prevention procedures.

Queen’s Hospital in Burton is treating 20 Covid-19 patients, down from 32 last week and down from 151 in early February - a reduction of 87 per cent.

Its intensive care staff are treating four patients who have the virus, a third of its pandemic peak of 12 - a significant number for a hospital of its size.

Chesterfield Royal Hospital staff are caring for 20 Covid-19 patients, slightly up from 17 last week, but substantially lower than the pandemic peak of 196 in late January - a reduction since then of 90 per cent.

Its intensive care staff are treating seven Covid-19 patients, slightly up from five last week but far below a peak of 17 in early April.

Gavin Boyle, chief executive of the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, said the fall in Covid-19 patient numbers is “an enormous and welcome reduction”.

He said: “But a big challenge awaits us. Not only do we need to recover ourselves, to collect ourselves and recover our composure, we also now need to turn our minds to the task of restoring our services.

“Achieving the level of service as it was before the pandemic is going to be our main challenge over the next few months.

“We will still need to maintain our vigilance against the virus, including using personal protective equipment (PPE) and keeping a separation of our clinical pathways, which will make a full recovery of our capacity more difficult to achieve.

“There is still a long road ahead. Whether we will see another wave or the emergence of new variants that significantly change how we contain the virus remains to be seen.”

Angie Smithson, chief executive of the Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “There’s room for optimism but still some way to go and I would urge people to continue to follow all current government guidelines as we start to come out of lockdown.

“It’s been difficult for patients and visitors, especially with visiting restricted and the wearing of face masks, and we’d like to thank you all for your support in respecting our safety measures and playing your part in seeing numbers fall.”