‘ONE IN 50’ INFECTED IN NOTTS
HOSPITALS AT ‘CRITICAL’ POINT AFTER ADMISSIONS SOAR MORE THAN 20% OF BEDS OCCUPIED BY COVID CASES HALF OF PATIENTS IN INTENSIVE CARE ARE BATTLING VIRUS
HOSPITALS in Nottinghamshire are in a “critical” position with high numbers of admissions and community infection “likely to get worse through January”.
Speaking at the first Public Health Meeting since Christmas, Dr Andy Haynes, executive lead for the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care System, said he believed around one in 50 people are now infected across the county.
Hospitals in Nottinghamshire now have 70 percent more patients than in the peak of the first wave in April last year.
This figure has risen rapidly from December when it was at 50 percent more.
Dr Haynes said: “The position is very concerning, it is critical.
He added: “We had a peak in early November which was 50 percent bigger than the peak in April.
“Since Christmas we’ve now seen an increase in cases and currently we’re running 70 percent higher than the April peak, with more than 500 Covid patients occupying beds in the hospitals.
“We know that position is likely to get worse through January so we are expecting to see more pressure on the health and care system.”
Dr Haynes said more than 20 percent of hospital beds are now occupied by Covid patients. One in 10 of these patients are in intensive care.
He added: “We’ve been running at over 200 percent in terms of intensive care capacity for many weeks which requires a lot of adjustment from staff and systems and has impact on other areas, although we are still very much open for all emergencies not just Covid emergencies.
“Half the patients in intensive care are in fact non-covid patients.
“About 10 percent of our staff are off sick, so we’re seeing all the things that we’ve talked about before.
“Of course, the position we’re seeing now we can’t change because it’s baked in from virus transmission that happened three weeks ago, but of course we can start to impact on the position from February and indeed it’s critical that we do to stop the health and care system from being overwhelmed.
“The infection level in the community right now is quite high, with probably around one in 50 people being affected, so those basic measures now for all of us are really important, so we can all play our part in trying to reduce transmission.”
Dr Haynes said complying with basic measures and lockdown would “buy time” as the vaccine is rolled out, with all care home residents and people aged over 80 expected to have been vaccinated.