New restrictions for visitors at Royal Derby in response to Omicron surge
CHIEF SAYS HE WOULD HATE TO AXE STAFF OVER JABS
NEW rules for visitors have been brought in at the Royal Derby Hospital to help limit the spread of the new Omicron variant among staff and patients.
Visitors have not been banned from the hospital but there will be only one visitor per patient and, ideally, that visitor must be from the same household.
Face coverings must continue to be worn and these are available at all entrances of both Derby and Burton hospitals, run by University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHBD).
The trust wants visitors to be double-vaccinated but, as a minimum, prior to arrival, they will be expected wherever possible to provide evidence of a negative lateral flow test that has been entered on to the NHS Covid-19 app.
Outpatients should attend alone unless it is essential that they have someone with them or have an accompanying carer. Friends and relatives should wait in their vehicle if travelling by car. Visiting for maternity and paediatric services remains unchanged, and exemptions for patients receiving end-of-life care or those with dementia and learning disabilities follows the current national guidance.
WHEN Asked about the level of staff Covid vaccination, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Gavin Boyle said the proportion of staff with first and second doses was in the mid 90 per cent range, while booster uptake was around 80 per cent, with some not yet eligible to have their booster yet.
He said around 500 staff have not had their boosters but have
Cathy Winfield, executive chief nurse, said: “Due to continued high levels of Covid-19 positive inpatients within our wards and intensive care units across our hospitals, visiting needs to be managed carefully. People who are unwell in hospital are vulnerable and at a higher risk of Covid-19 than those who are well.
“We have been operating a compassionate visiting policy for some time now. We know that it’s important for our patients to see family and friends. But with these changes we are asking our communities to please work with us and consider if your visit is essential. All of which will help prevent the spread of infection.”
Anyone who does not comply with the visiting restrictions may be had the first two doses.
Mr Boyle said he could not pinpoint a figure for how many staff had not been vaccinated at all, but that he was “mindful” of the expected decision to mandate compulsory full vaccination for healthcare staff.
He said he would hate to have to make any of the trust’s staff redundant as a result of this, due to being legally unable to continue their employment.
asked to leave, a spokesman for the hospital added.
The University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust has issued the new visiting guidance following the increase in Covid-19 cases at the hospitals and in the community.
The trust has not declared a socalled critical incident, but expects to put a curb on elective care – nonemergency, Covid or cancer patients – in the next 10 days.
Chief executive Gavin Boyle said Royal Derby is now at OPEL (Operations Pressure Escalation Levels) 4 the highest level of alert - meaning it is at serious risk of being “unable to deliver comprehensive care” and that patient safety could be compromised.
Queen’s Hospital has been at OPEL 3 for part of this week, while the trust had been at OPEL 2 before Christmas. It comes as the hospital had 26 patients with Covid as of Tuesday, January 5. None of these patients are in ICU.
The number of patients at the Royal Derby has now hit 102, of which four are in intensive care.
Mr Boyle said it was an “extremely challenging time for the trust” due to rising levels of Covid inpatients, high demand in the emergency departments and efforts to clear the backlog in elective care - with many having waited more than a year.
He said staff absences were having to be covered at very short notice and that the trust had pulled on its pool of bank employees but said: “We don’t have the level of staff we would like.”
Mr Boyle said the clinical priority of patients on the waiting list will be thoroughly assessed in order to decide who is seen first.
Derbyshire NHS organisations discussed before Christmas that some patients have been on the waiting list so long their needs were now urgent and the continual pauses to elective care, having developed a colossal backlog, could not be sustained.
Mr Boyle said this “weighs heavily on our minds” and there would be a widespread number of “difficult decisions” in the next few weeks.
Mr Boyle said two-thirds of Covid patients in intensive care were completely unvaccinated, though he says this group of people is now a small sub-section of the community.
He said Omicron still posed a high risk of serious illness, particularly to the unvaccinated, but that the strain was facing a wall of resistance, for the most part, in the form of vaccinated members of the community.
Mr Boyle advised patients to get vaccinated, ensure they only go to A&E for serious or life-threatening ailments - and otherwise to consider NHS 111 - and to have discharge plans in place for when they or their loved ones can leave hospital care. ■■Hospital could lose 1,000 staff over vaccines: Page 12