One in three beds filled by Covid patients
37% New Year’s Eve prediction
MORE than a third of hospital beds will be filled with Covid-19 patients on New Year’s Eve.
Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, which runs Queen Alexandra Hospital, is predicted to have 37 per cent of beds filled with Covid19 patients following analysis by the Health Service Journal.
The HSJ has analysed growth and occupancy rate in the last week and predicted 14 trusts will have coronavirus patients in more than one out of three beds across the hospital.
Currently PHU has Covid19 patients in 21 per cent of its beds.
It comes after a plea from hospital chief executive Mark Cubbon for residents to follow tier four rules to help staff battle increasing pressures. He said: ‘ Right now, cases are higher at QA as we are treating both Covid and non-Covid patients.
‘While we have plans in place to care for more patients affected by the virus, we are under increasing pressure, with more requiring intensive treatment than earlier in the year We all have a role to play in reducing the spread of Covid-19 and following the guidance issued in our area is the best place for us to start.’
On December 17, it was announced that Portsmouth, Havant and Gosport were being moved to tier three as of the morning of Saturday, December 19.
But on that Saturday evening the government said that the three council areas would be in tier four as of the following morning.
Neighbouring areas were still in tier two. But then the rest of Hampshire – minus the New Forest – was put in tier four on Boxing Day.
Portsmouth North MP
Penny Mordaunt raised the issue with the Chief and Deputy Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Scientist.
She told The News: ‘What people need is the clearest picture of what the coming weeks and months will bring, these are uncertain times, but where we can create a bit of certainty we should. It is the constant change and having to adapt that is tiring everyone and making life harder for business.’
Portsmouth MP and Portsmouth City Council leader, Councillor Gerald VernonJackson tweeted: ‘The Portsmouth director of public health has not been told of any positive test results of the new strain of the virus here in Portsmouth. So if the [government] know this they are not sharing it.’
We are under increasing pressure, with more requiring intensive care. QA Hospital chief executive Mark Cubbon