Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Pressure on hospitals sees surgeries cancelled
NHS Lanarkshire has had to cancel 18 planned operations as staff respond to continued “unprecedented levels of pressure”.
Health board officials say the situation has been created by the combination of an increase in Covid-19 cases, their work to maintain and recover services, plus staff shortages due to self-isolating and annual leave.
Its three accident and emergency departments are also continuing to see record and unseasonable demand, with more than 4000 patients per week consistently since mid-may, reaching 4698 cases in the week of June 6 – with residents being asked to use NHS24 and community health services.
NHS Lanarkshire chief executive Heather Knox said: “This is not a decision we take lightly and I would like to apologise for any upset caused.
“These combined pressures mean that we have had to take some
difficult decisions. We have also seen an increase in the number of people admitted to hospital with Covid-19, and this is an additional pressure while we are trying to recover services and treat those patients who need our care and who have planned operations which we are desperate to do.
“Also, we currently have staff who are having to self-isolate due to contacts outside work.”
Ms Knox continued: “We have seen exceptionally high numbers of people attending our emergency departments – higher than we normally would during the winter months, and our staff are struggling to cope.”
Ms Knox added: “We would encourage people to seek advice from NHS Inform [the health website] or NHS 24 on 111 before they attend A&E.”
There are currently 46 Covid patients in the three Lanarkshire hospitals, including Monklands, with Ms Knox describing the present period as its “third wave” and saying: “It’s not the numbers we saw in the first two waves, but that’s an additional pressure for us.”
With those in-patient numbers reflecting the increase in coronavirus infections in people aged 18 to 39 – which means that age group now accounts for “most of the new Covid-19 cases in Lanarkshire” – she also reiterated the importance of vaccination, testing and coronavirus safety measures including physical distancing and face coverings.
She said: “I want to ask everybody to encourage those who are younger to get vaccinated.
“We’re still seeing large numbers of people testing positive in the 18-39 age group; sadly, a number of those are now in hospital and some are going into ICU – that’s not something that anybody would want to see.
“If you know anybody who hasn’t been vaccinated in that younger age group, please do encourage them to come forward; there are drop-in clinics right across Lanarkshire and we’d love to see them so that they have that level of protection.
“Please encourage people to take tests – if you’re visiting somebody in hospital, if you have young people going out to any kind of social gathering, take a lateral flow test to protect those they care about.”