Plea to bring children to hospital as Sick Kids admissions fall away
The number of children being taken to accident and emergency at Edinburgh’s Sick Kids Hospital is dramatically down since the coronavirus crisis.
The average daily attendance at the hospital’s A&E department has fallen from 132 at this time last year to just 76 now.
It is being seen as confirmation that fears over Covid-19 are deterring parents from taking their youngsters for attention.
The figures come as scientists reported the first clear evidence of a link between Covid-19 and a rare but serious inflammatory disease similar to Kawasaki disease.
A study of eight children admitted to a Birmingham hospital with the condition found they were infected with the SARS-COV-2 virus several weeks before showing symptoms.
The test used to diagnose Covid-19 in adults produced negative results, but a specially designed antibody test revealed the children had been infected with coronavirus and had produced antibodies to fight it.
It is not clear why the Kawasaki-like disease took weeks to appear, but it is thought it may be due to an excessive immune reaction triggered by coronavirus.
A 14-year-old boy who died in a London hospital earlier this week is the first known fatality from the condition in Britain.
Detailed figures show visits to A&E at the Sick Kids were just 531 for the week ending 3 May, compared with 923 for the equivalent week last year and 994 two years ago.
Weekly attendances at the hospital’s A&E reached a peak of 1,273 in November last year, but as coronavirus took a hold the number dropped to just one-third of that total, with 426 children being seen in the week ending 12 April this year. Lothian MSP and Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs said: “It is vital that people know NHS Scotland is open to treat people who don’t have coronavirus, because inevitably people are still going to get sick from other illnesses.
“It is fully understandable that families are concerned and do not want to attend hospital or put additional pressure on the NHS at this time, but we need to ensure people access health services.”
Tracey Gillies, medical director for NHS Lothian, said: “Both the emergency departments at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children and at St John’s Hospital Livingston have been reconfigured to keep children with possible Covid-19 infection isolated from those without symptoms of the virus, so you should not be afraid to bring your child in if they are seriously unwell.”