Health chiefs reveal plan to tackle ‘second wave’

HEALTH leaders revealed their plans to deal with the ‘second wave’ of COVID-19 as Greater Manchester was put into Tier 3 lockdown.

At a public health briefing on Thursday morning, experts leading Manchester’s winter strategy spoke of the lessons learnt from the first wave of the pandemic in April - and how they are preparing for a challenging winter.

Their plan includes reopening the Nightingale Hospital, boosting critical care beds, protecting the vulnerable, getting students tested and curbing the rising rate of infection in the over-sixties.

This time round, there is also fresh emphasis on protecting non-Covid care, including patients due for elective surgeries.

There was also a plea to the population of Greater Manchester.

Prof Jane Eddleston, joint group medical director and intensive care consultant at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It’s now time for each and every one of us to take personal responsibility for how we respond to and reduce the transmission of the virus.

“There are patients who are particularly susceptible to this, those with chronic illnesses. Those patients will know who they are and their families will know and it’s really important we do everything we can to protect them.”

David Regan, Director of Public Health for Manchester, said: “We know transmission in households will be the main driver of the transmission rate in Manchester.”

He said the national lockdown had worked but that evidence on local lockdowns ‘wasn’t fully there’.

But he said collectively, people could curb the spread of coronavirus by reducing the number of social contacts and interactions between households. He said this, along with social distancing and mask-wearing rules could help when Greater Manchester’s Tier 3 status is reviewed on November 11, while keeping schools open.

Calling on residents to get behind them to help reduce transmission, Mr Regan said they would provide humanitarian support and better access to testing.

Prof Eddleston said they were ‘absolutely determined’ to create space for non-Covid patients in the second wave.

She said during the first wave around two-thirds of patients with serious conditions had not come forward for emergency care and that they didn’t want to see a repeat of this.

She spoke of the plan to ‘shield’ beds in the system for non-Covid surgeries and procedures, urging those due for elective surgery, to attend at what would be a ‘Covid-secure site’, or a hospital with no emergency department.

These include Rochdale, Trafford, Wrightington, and Leigh.

As part of their case for a Tier 3 lockdown, the government warned that by November 8 Covid discharge fully but no longer need to be in a main hospital.

The Nightingale will be run in partnership with primary care services and will be open to patients across the north-west.

It’s not yet clear how the hospital will be staffed, although there was reference to ‘localities’ from across the north-west bringing in colleagues.

When asked if student testing had been reduced, Mr Regan conceded that a pilot testing - including a mobile site in Manchester city centre for students had shown there were a number of asymptomatic cases that would otherwise have gone unrecorded.

He revealed plans to open a new testing site in Fallowfield’s Armitage Centre for student halls and house shares.

Mr Regan said ‘early intervention’ - including reducing parties and gatherings and providing mental and health and wellbeing support for those self-isolating - had ‘paid dividends’ and the number of cases had ‘come down dramatically’.

He said, however, that they were not complacent and that they were keeping a close eye on student houses.

Dr Manisha Kumar, Medical Director Manchester Health and Care Commissioning, appealed to students to register with a GP practice so they could receive the best support and advice during the second wave.

Dr Regan said the infection rate among the oversixties was increasing and was now at 338 per 100,000. This age group, he said, was a ‘key focus’ because they are more vulnerable to complications.

Mr Regan said they were planning to act on feedback from those shielding around wellbeing and mental health and balance that with protecting them from the virus. He said humanitarian support and practical elements like food shopping were key.

He said care homes also needed to be protected.

He said they wanted to ensure the poorest in communities were not further disadvantaged and to protect people’s wider needs.

Dr Kumar appealed to those who need medical advice to seek it. She said they had seen an increase in anxiety and depression in those feeling more vulnerable because of Covid - and a greater reluctance to access help.

She said: “We are open and we have been since the start of the pandemic. It’s really important that patients understand we are still there.”

She said they had had to change how they give healthcare to keep people safe - with video consultations and phone advice but that people who needed to be seen would be.

●●Clinicians wearing PPE practice treating a patient in cardiac arrest (played by a ward nurse) in the dedicated resuscitation room of the Nightingale NW Hospital