Nurse who cared for virus patients now fighting for
THE number of people who have died with coronavirus in Wales has reached 1,062 after 18 more fatalities were confirmed yesterday.
But new figures showed the number of patients being treated with Covid-19 has fallen steadily over the past week and a half.
It came as NHS Wales chief executive Dr Andrew Goodall detailed how Wales’ health services are coping after he said hospital rates of the infection were coming down.
In a separate development, Tracey Cooper, head of Public Health Wales, admitted she was unaware of Wales’ target to carry out 9,000 coronavirus tests per day by the end of April.
Meanwhile, Dr Goodall provided a range of encouraging figures at yesterday’s Welsh Government briefing which suggest NHS Wales is coping with capacity. These included:
■ The number of people being treated with Covid-19 has consistently fallen over the last 10 days, with fewer than 200 new cases now reported every day; ■ one in five tests performed every day are positive;
■ all health boards are at “green” or “level one” status;
■ some 40% of acute hospital beds are empty, with 677 confirmed cases in Welsh hospitals and 343 suspected cases;
■ one in five intensive care beds are occupied with confirmed or suspected cases of the virus – 50% lower than the peak; and
■ around 2,800 people admitted to hospital with coronavirus have recovered and been discharged. That equates to around 75 per day.
“Our NHS and social care services have delivered a remarkable response to the public health emergency since the first people were admitted with coronavirus in early March,” he said.
“Our staff have gone above and beyond to care for our population. New technology has been rolled out in record time, helping to protect the risk to the public and staff by reducing the need for face-to-face appointments through virtual clinics.
“Bed capacity has nearly doubled through field hospitals which were built in a matter of weeks, and staff throughout the NHS and social care were prepared to respond to the expected peak in demand and they continue to support these preparations for the forthcoming weeks.”
However, he said it was important to remember all those who had lost their lives. “The human cost of this crisis is both profound and immeasurable,” he added.
Dr Goodall said he was concerned that people were not accessing urgent care services when they needed them. He said A&E attendances across Welsh hospitals are currently much lower than normal.
“We have now developed a Covid19
A NURSE who cared for coronavirus patients in A&E is now fighting for her life in intensive care after contracting the illness herself.
Cindy Sulit, from Newport, is currently in a coma and on breathing support as her NHS colleagues work round the clock to keep her stable.
The 45-year-old was doing agency shifts in the emergency department at Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny before she started showing symptoms of Covid-19.
After self-isolating with her partner, Marjorie Chua, who also became unwell, Cindy took a turn for the worse and needed to be taken to the Royal
operating framework for the NHS which sets out how it can respond to coronavirus and provide routine care,” he said.
“The public will need to be confident that our hospitals are as safe as possible and many services are putting in place measures now to separate and protect patients.
“I have asked health boards to develop plans about how they will meet any future increases in coronavirus cases. This could still occur alongside any changes to lockdown measures.”
He added that he expected health boards to continue to provide essential services such as emergency, cardiac
Gwent Hospital in the city. She has now spent the past week and a half in intensive care and showing only small signs of improvement.
“She’s a dedicated and very caring nurse,” said her colleague and friend Joanne Hartland, a healthcare support worker and nurse auxillary.
“She’s such a character and a really funny person who everyone enjoys working with.
“Cindy also has very strong faith and I know many people nationwide have been praying for her and her partner.
“Coronavirus is like an invisible enemy. It’s horrific. It’s now affecting my colleagues and my friends, and it’s and stroke, mental health and disability services among others during this period.
“The NHS will continue to be there for everyone when they need it most,” he said.
The NHS chief executive confirmed that restrictions on people’s movement will remain in place over the bank holiday weekend.
He said the Welsh Cabinet would meet again yesterday evening to discuss the lockdown rules.
“I think the message for this weekend has to be the same – the lockdown measures remain in place at this time,” he said.
“We continue to carefully monitor and measure transmission rates and there is some variation both across the UK and across Wales.”
When asked about what was being done to protect BAME communities who are being disproportionately affected by the outbreak, Dr Goodall said new risk assessment processes were being set up. This will allow healthcare services to take appropriate precautions and provide “an extra level of confidence”.
The UK Government confirmed yesterday that 400,000 surgical gowns ordered from Turkey did not meet British safety standards.
However, Dr Goodall said there have not been any issues with recent deliveries in Wales.
“We have to be concerned about that going forward,” he said, adding that there was a danger to pursuing a scary time for everyone.”
Joanne said Cindy, who is originally from the Philippines, first became unwell with a temperature, breathing problems and lost all sense of taste and smell.
“She was feeling very anxious about it all,” said bank nurse Joanne, who has worked alongside Cindy in A&E at Nevill Hall during this outbreak.
“I didn’t hear from her for a while until I discovered she’d been taken to the Royal Gwent and was on the respiratory ward.”
But before long Cindy needed to be taken to intensive care, where she remains to this day on a ventilator.
PPE “no matter the source”.
Elsewhere, Dr Cooper, chief executive of Public Health Wales (PHW), yesterday told the Senedd’s health committee she was “not familiar” with Welsh ministers’ original aim to carry out 9,000 daily coronavirus tests.
Dr Cooper also blamed Westminster for gazumping Wales’ Covid-19 testing deal with Roche.
Dr Cooper told MSs that Wales was now receiving 19% of Roche’s UK allocation – around 900 tests a day.
Her revelation came as part of a response to a question from Plaid Cymru’s shadow health minister, Rhun ap Iorwerth, about whether PHW was part of a group that advised the Welsh Government that 9,000 tests was a feasible option.
Angela Burns MS, the Welsh Conservative health spokeswoman, said:
Joanne said that while she felt staff in A&E were given enough personal protective equipment (PPE), the guidance kept on changing as time went on.
She said that in her years of experience as a healthcare support worker she had never witnessed anything quite as traumatic as this pandemic.
“It’s very, very hard both mentally and physically,” admitted Joanne, who believes she may have contracted Covid-19 herself months ago.
“It’s also incredibly hot wearing all of the PPE. We have never been short of it, but I’ve heard that elsewhere – particularly at the beginning – staff in