The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Milestone for Tayside as wards free of Covid
PANDEMIC: No patients being treated in region’s hospitals for coronavirus
Tayside has recorded zero Covid-19 patients being treated in any of the region’s hospitals for the first time in seven months.
Health board chief executive Grant
Archibald announced the news at a meeting yesterday and congratulated staff and the public for the achievement.
He paid tribute to the people of Tayside for their support in “recognising their responsibility to their community”.
NHS Tayside’s board heard hospital Covid cases have dropped from a peak of 189 on January 16 to none on April 28 and 29.
Thanking health workers, he said: “I believe they should feel immensely proud on a personal basis for their commitment, their professionalism, their sheer hard work and ingenuity applied to dealing with something they have never seen before in the whole lifetime of NHS Scotland.”
There are currently no patients with Covid-19 in hospitals anywhere in Tayside, the health board has revealed
Grant Archibald, NHS Tayside’s chief executive, praised health service staff and the Tayside community for their “collective efforts” which have seen the number of coronavirus patients on wards drop from a peak of 189 in mid-january to zero yesterday.
It is the first time since September last year that the health board has recorded zero hospital patients being treated for coronavirus.
Speaking at an NHS Tayside board meeting, Mr Archibald said working together had been key in tackling a challenge nobody had ever faced “in the whole lifetime of NHS Scotland”.
He said: “This result is the product of hardworking NHS staff and the 416,000 people living in Tayside too.
“They made the decision to follow the guidance, protect their own health and recognise the responsibility they had to their friends, neighbours and community.
“I want to give thanks to the people of Tayside – this is to their great credit.”
And although the command structure of NHS Tayside has now been stood down and restrictions are easing across the country, Mr Archibald gave a reassurance the NHS remains ready to act if the situation were to change.
He said: “We are ready to adapt again to meet the needs of the population we serve.”
Board chairwoman Lorna Birse-stewart added her thanks to NHS staff, many of whom had to move to new roles during the pandemic, saying: “On behalf of the board I want
to thank all of the staff involved for their hard work and professionalism.”
In her report, Emma Fletcher, NHS Tayside’s director of public health, said: “We are now able to start to slowly and cautiously ease our way out of this pandemic.
“This must be done carefully and while over 60% of the adult population have received at least one dose of the vaccine and nearly 30% have completed the two-dose course, there
remains a sizeable proportion of the population who have yet to receive a vaccine or achieve the maximum benefit from two doses. Therefore, we do have to proceed with caution and continue to monitor very closely the impact of any changes in restrictions carefully.”
Although the “significant progress” brought optimism she added there was still work to be done.
She said: “The pandemic
is not yet over, with a significant way to go for ourselves to resume ‘life as normal’ and the virus is still having a catastrophic impact in very many countries across the world.
“We need to continue to build on all of the hard work achieved to date and our thanks go to everyone for continuing to stick to the guidance as it is updated and taking up the vaccination when it is offered.”
“Ready to adapt again to meet the needs of the population