Almost 100 Covid cases a day being admitted to hospital
NEARLY 100 people per day are being admitted to Welsh hospitals with suspected or confirmed Covid-19, new figures show.
The Welsh Government, in its latest update on NHS activity and capacity, said that the number of patients needing hospital treatment for coronavirus is on the rise.
In the seven days up to October 20, an average of 95 people a day were admitted to hospital as confirmed or suspected with the virus. This compares to an average of 84 for the previous seven days and is below the April peak of 149.
The total number of coronavirus patients taking up beds is also increasing to levels last seen in June. On October 20, 894 hospital beds were occupied with Covid-19 related patients, an increase from 707 beds in the previous week.
Some 499 of the 894 beds were occupied with “confirmed” Covid-19 patients, while 264 beds had “suspected” Covid-19 patients and 131 were in recovery.
To put this into context, on October 20 there were a total of 7,816 patients occupying hospital beds with all illnesses and injuries, meaning that coronavirus patients are taking up around 11% of all NHS beds.
When it came to the most seriously-ill patients in hospital, 43 invasive ventilated beds were occupied with confirmed, recovering or suspected Covid-19 related patients on October 20, almost double the 25 recorded the week before.
Of these, there are 34 “confirmed” coronavirus cases, eight “suspected” and one “recovering” in invasive ventilated beds.
However, this is nowhere near the level seen during the first peak in April when 164 of these beds were being used.
First Minister Mark Drakeford said earlier this week that the 17-day “firebreak” lockdown, which started at 6pm yesterday, needed to be introduced in an attempt to reduce the volume of patients coming through the doors.
However, he stressed Wales would not see these
figures falling until after the lockdown period has been completed due to the time-lag between early symptoms and patients becoming seriously unwell.
Last week, the chief executive of NHS Wales, Dr Andrew Goodall, warned that critical care capacity in Welsh hospitals was now full with both Covid and non-covid patients.
The Welsh Government has decided to retain 10 of its field hospitals over the winter period to provide 2,600 extra beds. One of these, Ysbyty’r Seren in Bridgend, has already opened its doors to patients.
This will be supplemented by a further 2,500 beds across existing hospital facilities, the new Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran and a new building being built on the site of the University Hospital of Wales.
At the Welsh Government press conference on Wednesday, Health Minister Vaughan Gething said the higher rate of infections being seen among young people had now spread to older generations and this was being seen in hospitals.
“The number of people admitted to hospital in Wales for treatment for coronavirus symptoms continues to rise every day,” he said.
“The latest figures I have from NHS Wales show there are 894 Covidrelated cases in our hospitals – up 26% from the same time last week.
“This is the highest it has been since June. There are 43 people in critical care with coronavirus – 72% higher than last week.
“One of the reasons why we are seeing more people being admitted to hospital is because as the virus has become more widespread in Wales, it has spread from younger age groups to older people.”
Several Welsh hospitals are now reporting coronavirus outbreaks, including Morriston Hospital in Swansea, Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil, Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend and Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport.
However, the most severe outbreak has been declared in the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, Llantrisant, where Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board has reported 159 cases and 43 deaths to date.
However, patients who call 999 and require emergency treatment are now being taken to the site following a temporary halt in admissions, while surgical and other planned activity is restarting “in a phased and safe way”.
Meanwhile, latest Welsh Government figures show that around 1% of the medical workforce, 2.4% of nursing and midwifery staff and 1.9% of other staff groups are currently selfisolating due to the virus.
The statistics also revealed that over the last few days, the number of people being admitted to Welsh A&E departments for all illness and injuries is falling.
On October 18, there were 1,576 emergency admissions, down from 1,807 on October 17, 2,079 on October 16 and 2,097 on October 15. The last time it reached as low as the 1,500 mark was on May 3.