Trust refuses to disclose number of patients at each of its hospitals

DERBY and Burton’s hospital trust has refused to disclose how many Covid positive patients it is currently caring for.

The University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust has provided these figures on a regular basis throughout the pandemic.

However, it does not provide the figure for the number of Covid patients in intensive care, though these are published at the end of each month by NHS England.

Chesterfield Royal Hospital readily and regularly publishes its Covid intensive care patient figures.

On Monday, figures showed the number of Covid-19-positive patients in Burton, Chesterfield and Derby’s hospitals had surged within the past week to 115 – more than double the 54 patients 11 days ago.

The trust for Burton and Derby though has refused to release figures for Tuesday overall, or for each of the Derby and Burton hospitals and will not break down the figures from October 19.

At the peak of the pandemic there were 320 Covid-19 patients in our hospitals, with around 150 at Royal Derby Hospital; 100 at Queen’s Hospital in Burton; and 80 at Chesterfield Royal Hospital.

According to figures released on Monday, there were 90 patients at Royal Derby Hospital and Queen’s Hospital in Burton combined. However, the Derby and Burton hospital trust would not say how many Covid-19 patients were at each site.

On October 15 there were 38 Covid patients at Royal Derby Hospital and a further 15 at Queen’s Hospital in Burton, combining for a total of 53. The 90 patients said to be in both hospitals on Monday represents an almost doubling of that figure in just five days.

A hospital trust spokesperson said: “We have committed to release regular updates to media about the number of patients we are treating for Covid-19, but stated that these would not be daily or hourly.”

On Monday, the trust said it expected the number of Covid inpatients across its Derby and Burton sites to surpass 100 on Tuesday. It made that forecast at the same time as it reintroduced visiting restrictions – with some exceptions – following a surge in inpatients and Covid-related deaths.

The trust reported one Covid positive patient had died overnight on Saturday. Figures released yesterday showed that a further nine patients had died since then, within 28 days of a positive Covid test.

There are 25 Covid positive patients at Chesterfield Royal Hospital, up from 22 on October 15. Of these, 10 are in intensive care.

Data published by NHS England shows Derby and Burton hospital trust had three Covid-positive patients in intensive care on October 1, down from five on September 24.

At the peak of the pandemic there were around 30 patents in the trust’s intensive care units, with 20 in Derby and 10 in Burton.