Admissions double in last four days but hospitals ‘prepared’

HOSPITAL admissions for coronavirus have more than doubled in the last four days, the chief executive of the county’s two main hospitals has said.

Deborah Lee said the number of patients entering Gloucestershire Royal and Cheltenham General hospitals with Covid-19 has risen from 38 to 98 in the last week, with the most of the doubling “happening in the last three to four days”.

Speaking in a live webchat on the Gloucestershirelive Facebook page, she explained that the hospitals “expected” the rise and were “prepared” for it.

She reiterated her message that taking action now would hopefully spare Gloucestershire the situation seen in hospitals in the north of England where routine operations have been cancelled and services are being pushed to the brink.

The webchat, chaired by former Citizen editor Ian Mean, saw Ms Lee explain that Covid patients were “not as sick as they were” and their length of stay before discharge is six days shorter on average.

Ms Lee said: “The rates of the virus in Gloucestershire are still about half of those in England. We have not caught up with the England average.

“Although we have slight growth in the community, it is starting to plateau.

“We have not yet got the impact of the lockdown measures, so that is a really positive place to be.”

Ms Lee also said that the Covid vaccine announced on Monday by pharmaceutical company Pfizer, which is said to offer 90 per cent protection from the coronavirus after a major trial, will be rolled out first to those who are eligible for the flu vaccine.

She said: “The Covid vaccine and the flu vaccine needs to be three weeks apart. If you want to have the Covid vaccine, make sure you have the flu vaccine.”