Health board chief myths surrounding
MISINFORMATION about coronavirus is rife in our communities and on social media.
Due to the ever-changing nature of the pandemic, and the wealth of public opinion on the matter, people can be forgiven for not knowing what information to trust anymore.
We’ve asked Dr Nick Lyons, the medical director of Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, to debunk some myths about the virus and how the Welsh NHS is dealing with it.
“The NHS is always in crisis in winter. This year is no different”
For many years the Welsh NHS has struggled during the winter months.
The drop in temperature tends to exacerbate many people’s chronic conditions and put additional pressure on our health system as a result.
The annual flu season, which has been known to claim lives, also rears its ugly head throughout this period and causes a rise in hospital admissions.
But, as Dr Lyons explains, the added problem of Covid-19 is making the winter period twice as difficult as normal. Not only are there hundreds more patients in hospital at this time but staff levels are also down significantly.
According to latest figures, just before Christmas in excess of 8,000 NHS Wales employees were absent due to contracting Covid, self-isolating or having other illnesses.
Dr Lyons said: “Yes, the NHS always faces pressures in winter, but this year is completely unprecedented. In our health board today, having more than 600 extra patients with Covid on our wards perhaps demonstrates the pressures and refutes that suggestion.
“This is like no other winter.”
“There are fewer critical care beds in hospital at the moment”
In fact many acute hospitals are operating on way more than 100% of their capacity and are having to find beds on other wards to accommodate seriously unwell patients.
But to say there has been a decline in the number of beds – whether occupied or not – is simply not true.
Indeed the opposite is true.
The problem is trying to get in enough skilled staff to be able to offer safe and timely care.
Dr Lyons explained: “In our health board we have approximately doubled our critical care capacity compared with this time last year.
“It’s not just about the number of critical care beds. It’s about that staff that you have to look after patients in those beds.”
“If all the hospitals are full, why aren’t we using the field hospitals?”
Some health boards are indeed using their field hospitals as “surge capacity”, with the majority housing patients who are recovering from the virus. Once again, however, the issue is getting enough trained NHS staff in to look after these people until they are fit and ready to return home.
In Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB Dr Lyons admitted more healthcare support workers are needed at its field hospital Ysbyty’r Seren in Bridgend.
“We are using our field hospital Ysbyty’r Seren to its full capacity,” he said. “Staffing levels are preventing any further use at the moment.”
He added: “Healthcare support workers, with a different set of qualifications, are so important to delivering care and that’s perhaps what what we’re most in need of in terms of staffing Ysbyty’r Seren.”
“Why can’t we see pictures of full Covid wards if they are indeed full?”
Conspiracy theories circulating online suggest that some Covid wards are empty, prompting people to question why pictures