NHS loses 8,713 days to Covid

A TOTAL of 8,713 days were lost at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust in the week ending January 16 because staff were sick or self-isolating due to Covid.

That was up 1.2 per cent from 8,606 the week before, and up 62.8 per cent from 5,351 days lost a fortnight previously.

About one in seven members of staff, 2,345, were absent for any reason on Sunday, January 16, but the number of full beds fell that week.

On January 16, 89.3 per cent of the trust’s 1,517 beds were occupied, compared with 90.5 per cent on January 9.

In intensive care, there were 30 beds empty on January 16, according to the latest figures. On the Sunday before that, there had been 21 beds free.

However, adult critical care beds were more likely to be occupied by a patient who was well enough to go home but could not be discharged – 8.8 per cent of the total, compared with 7.7 per cent on the previous Sunday.

A&Es may also be under less pressure, as shown in a reduction in the number of ambulances waiting to hand over patients.

In all, 345 ambulances (35 per cent) had to wait more than 30 minutes to hand over patients, including 166 waiting more than an hour (16.9 per cent).

The target is for handovers to take under 15 minutes.

That has improved from the previous week when 370 ambulances (41 per cent) waited half an hour or longer, with 221 (24.5 per cent) waiting more than an hour.

Across England, 248,882 days were lost in the week ending January 16 because staff were sick or self-isolating due to Covid. That was down 22.3 per cent from 320,152 the week before.

It was a more mixed picture in A&Es. While fewer ambulances were facing long queues outside emergency departments, the number having to temporarily send patients elsewhere was still high.

A&Es across England agreed to temporarily divert patients to nearby A&E departments to relieve pressure 25 times in the week ending January 16. That compares to 23 incidents the week before. There were 15 temporary A&E diverts in the equivalent week last year.

NHS national medical director Professor Stephen Powis said: “Even though the numbers are going in the right direction, NHS staff will have many tough months ahead as they continue to deliver patient care while managing competing demands.

“The number of people in hospital for both Covid and non-Covid care remains high, and arrivals at A&E via ambulance increased by more than 2,000, even as the vaccination programme is helping to protect people from the virus.”