No‘blanket’step down of NHS services

NHS Tayside is not stepping down services in a “blanket fashion” due to COVID-19, but staff have been redeployed and operations rescheduled or moved to different locations.

The health board’s operational medical director told the PA it is monitoring the impact of the coronavirus on its hospitals on a daily and weekly basis.

NHS Tayside hospital cases tripled within the first fortnight of 2021, rising from 57 on January 1 to a peak of 189 COVID positive hospital patients on January 15 and 16.

Hospital cases are starting to decline but are still currently more than double what they were on the first day of the year.

As of January 27, NHS Tayside had 133 COVID patients with five in intensive care.

NHS Tayside operational medical director Dr Pamela Johnston told the PA it is taking a different approach from the first lockdown.

Dr Johnston said: “Our approach in this second peak of the virus is to monitor on a daily and weekly basis the impact of COVID-19 in our hospitals, looking at COVID patient admissions, emergency admissions for other conditions, and our staffing situation.

“We are not standing down whole theatre lists or services in a blanket fashion, which is different to the first phase approach where all elective procedures were postponed.”

But anyone due to receive routine surgery may find their operation being rescheduled or moved to a different hospital.

Dr Johnston explained: “However, we may see a small number of patients who were due to have routine surgery rescheduled or be offered their procedure at another facility, for example, a patient who had been booked to have an operation at Ninewells may be offered the procedure at Perth Royal Infirmary.

“We have also deployed some staff to support the COVID response as needed.

“It is this flexibility which our clinical teams are keen to keep going as they are committed to keep elective services running as far as this is possible.”