No Covid deaths for six weeks at Northwick Park
LAST RECORDED CORONAVIRUS FATALITY IN JUNE
FIVE patients suffering from coronavirus were still receiving treatment at Northwick Park hospital at the end of August, latest hospital data shows.
The London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust (LNWH) confirmed that, as of August 20, the five people were in hospital care, and that a total nine people were treated by the trust for the deadly virus during the whole month.
Trust figures revealed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service show coronavirus cases at the hospital dropped sharply in June, following the peak of the pandemic in April.
In March, the key London hospital, which was among the first to start treating coronavirus, looked after 449 patients.
This reached a peak of 1,398 in April.
The number of patients being treated then dropped down to 301 in May and further to 69 patients in June and 34 in July.
According to NHS data, the last recorded coronavirus death at the trust was on July 23. The total of deaths at the trust’s hospitals as of September 1 is now 614.
As hospital cases have hit a low, rising cases have been increasingly reported in the community.
Last week, Ealing’s council leader Julian Bell put out a warning to residents to “double their efforts” in slowing the spread of the virus as the borough had recorded a steady increase in cases over the month.
The neighbouring borough of Hounslow also recorded the highest increase in cumulative cases in London across the first 12 days of August, before bringing the rate back to a “low and steady” level by the end of the month.
“Higher numbers of reports have also been attributed to wider testing of members of the public, but concerns have been raised nationally that increasing cases in the community could lead to more coronavirus patients needing to go to hospital for treatment.
In July, a trust spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that its clinical teams were working “extremely hard” to prepare for the possibility of a second spike.
They added: “Among other precautionary measures, we have increased the number of critical care beds we provide.
“We have introduced rigorous infection control measures which geographically separate patients coming in for routine care from those who need emergency care.
“We also now require that anyone visiting hospital must wear a face mask and be subject to a routine temperature check.”