Five-fold increase in critical care beds planned at uhcw

COVENTRY’S University Hospital is preparing to increase its number of critical care beds from 30 to over 150 to cope with the expected upsurge in coronavirus cases.

The hospital in Walsgrave currently has over 100 patients who have tested positive for the COVID-19 strain of the disease, while 13 people who had contracted it have sadly died there.

Preparations are under way at the hospital to deal with even more cases as numbers continue to rise both here in Coventry and across the UK. Cases crossed the 300 mark in Coventry and Warwickshire yesterday.

The hospital is waiting on more ventilators to arrive, and is also taking on retired staff and students to help bolster the workforce.

The Telegraph spoke exclusively with the CEO of University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust, Andy Hardy, who said the team felt they had “done as much as we can at this moment”.

He also thanked the thousands of “amazing” staff working on the frontline during the outbreak and urged members of the public to do their bit to help NHS staff by adhering to the lockdown rules.

Asked how the hospital was coping right now, Mr Hardy said: “We have obviously been in planning for the upcoming surge for a little while now.

“We’ve emptied a lot of beds on site and have cancelled a lot of planned surgery. We have also taken down many outpatient clinics but are still doing some digitally thanks to modern technology.

“We have increased our critical care capacity and plan to do even more of that once ventilators are available, and we are training more and more staff to be able to use that equipment so that we can take more patients who need that care.

“We feel we have done as much as we can at this moment, but we are not resting on our laurels.”

Mr Hardy told Coventrylive that UHCW’S critical care capacity, which usually sits at around 30 beds, has been upped to 50 and that could increase to as high as 158 if needed.

But he said a number that high “will need more ventilators coming on to site” and he is hopeful the first delivery will be “from this time next week”.

The hospital CEO said that space had been earmarked for where those critical care beds could go and they had four-bedded bays which can be “transferred” to help with creating extra space for patients.

He added: “We are lucky that we have a high proportion of beds that are in single rooms to help with isolation.”