High number of cases ‘inevitable’ at Northwick
HOSPITAL TRIPLES NUMBER OFINTENSIVE CARE BEDS IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19
IT WAS “inevitable” that North West London’s hospital trust would see a large number of coronavirus cases, a health boss has said.
Martin Kuper, medical director of London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust (LNWH), has revealed a number of factors health chiefs believe explain the reasons behind the large number of deaths being recorded by the provider.
The trust, which manages Northwick Park and Ealing hospitals – both coronavirus treatment hubs – is one of the worst hit hospitals in the whole city.
It was the first trust to confirm more than 100 deaths in the country, and its Harrow-based Northwick Park hospital was among the first to treat patients for the deadly disease.
Mr Kuper said: “The trust had one of the first designated hospitals to take Covid-19 patients because of the size and expertise of its infectious diseases unit.
“Our communities are home to a large and ethnically diverse population including many elderly people with one or more long-term health conditions that make them especially vulnerable to COVID-19.
“This, together with the fact that it has one of London’s largest and busiest A&E departments, made it inevitable that we would be handling a large number of cases.”
Since the crisis began Northwick Park has almost tripled the number of intensive care beds from 23 to 60, while Ealing’s capacity has hiked from nine to 17.
Mr Kuper added: “Partners like the Royal Brompton and Harefield have been a huge help in taking a proportion of our critically ill patients, allowing us time to expand our capacity, particularly across north-west London.”
A further 11 patients suffering from Covid-19 sadly lost their lives at the North West London Hospital Trust between April 1 and April 10.
These deaths were confirmed by Public Health England on Saturday, April 11 and brought the total of deaths to 242 since March 31.
Confirmed cases in borough of Ealing reached 624 as of 2pm on April 10.
A further 208 people in London were confirmed to have died from Covid-19 on April 11 bringing the total number of deaths at that time to 2,577 in the capital.