Fall in hospital Covid patients

TWO of Devon’s four hospitals have seen the number of Covid-19 patients being treated fall despite case rates in the county being among the highest in England and still rising.

Infection rates in Exeter, Plymouth and Torbay are inside the top ten in England, but the latest Government figures, which give the position as of Tuesday, August 10, show that none of the hospitals covering those areas has seen patient numbers rise.

At Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, 42 patients remain in hospital, the same number as on August 3, but in Exeter and Torbay – the areas with the third and sixth highest rates – numbers are down week-on-week.

In Exeter, the number of patients in hospital have dropped from 30 to 28, while in Torbay the number is down from 12 to 11.

But as the number of patients in hospital at North Devon District Hospital has risen from two to eight – the highest total since February 2 – the total number in the county has risen from 86 to 89.

Across the border in Cornwall, the number of patients in hospital has fallen from 23 to 18 over the same period, despite cases in the county being up by 40 per cent.

One was in units run by the Cornish Partnership Foundation Trust, with the other 17 at the Royal Cornwall Hospital.

Two of the patients were in mechanical ventilation beds, Government figures show, with only three per cent of all hospital beds occupied by Covid-19 patients.

There have been four deaths in Cornish hospitals in the past week, the most recent on August 8.