Operations hit by ‘surge’ in Covid cases

DERRIFORD Hospital in Plymouth has postponed and rearranged operations as the number of Covid-19 patients rises.

It currently has 120 patients with coronavirus after a surge in the past two weeks. University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust said this meant there were now five dedicated Covid wards, also known as ‘red zones’. This is in addition to seven wards that are restricted due to the virus.

In the past seven days, infection rates for Plymouth have risen to 801 positive cases for every 100,000 people. This is an increase of 74% weekon-week, despite the number of tests carried out falling.

A spokesperson for the trust said it was under “exceptional pressures”, which meant planned surgeries had had to be postponed due to the lack of bed capacity.

Critical surgery is continuing to be prioritised, including cancer and cardiology treatment, and limbsaving and sight-saving procedures.

The hospital says it hopes to increase the number of operations and appointments as soon as possible. This might mean that surgery is carried out in a different place from where patients have had treatment previously.

A spokesperson for the trust said: “We sympathise with patients currently on waiting lists for operations and understand how this can be a distressing experience. Cancelling and rearranging any surgery is a decision that is not taken lightly and, whilst we do not comment on individual patient cases, we understand this will cause worry for patients.

“We have this week experienced exceptional pressures, which resulted in the difficult decision to cancel some planned surgeries due to a lack of bed capacity. We have 120 patients in hospital with Covid-19 and have seen a real surge of patients who are positive, resulting in an increase from two to five dedicated Covid-19 wards within the last two weeks.

“In addition, we have a further seven wards restricted due to Covid19. This has severely impacted on our ability both to admit patients into the hospital as quickly as we want to, and to discharge patients to the community. With partners, we are continuing to prioritise critical surgery for people with cancer, life and limb-saving need, cardiology and sight-saving procedures.

“We are hoping to increase surgery and appointments as soon as we can and will keep patients updated – for some patients this may mean that surgery may be delivered in different places to where they may have had them before.”