Outbreak at Hillingdon hospital stops admissions

A HOSPITAL serving Boris Johnson’s constituency has closed to emergency admissions due to a Covid-19 outbreak.

About 70 staff members are isolating after the outbreak at Hillingdon Hospital in west London. Hillingon’s A&E department has been told to divert patients to other hospitals.

The outbreak comes amid increasing concern that the spread of Covid-19 within hospitals has slowed efforts to ease Britain’s lockdown, with cases “leaking” into communities.

Modelling by Public Health England suggests that up to nine in 10 nurses and doctors who caught Covid-19 during the peak of the pandemic picked it up in hospitals. It also suggests that one in five patients who contracted the virus became infected on the wards.

Scientists have warned that a lack of distancing could be fuelling the spread of infection. The hospital serves the Prime Minister’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.

In a message sent to staff last Friday, Sarah Tedford, the hospital’s chief executive, is said to have written: “All the way through this [pandemic] we have followed national guidance and it has kept us safe. So what is happening now? I am told some of you are not wearing appropriate masks and you are not adhering to social distancing. This has resulted in an outbreak on a ward where our staff have contracted Covid-19.

“If you do not follow the guidance, we cannot keep you safe. I don’t like wearing a mask, but it would be irresponsible of me not to do so.

“Please think very carefully about what you are doing and ask yourselves if you are keeping yourself safe and if you are keeping each other safe.

“We are not out of the woods yet. Can I please remind you to take responsibility for yourself and your team and help us all beat Covid-19? The lockdown is being lifted. Please ensure we play our part in not spreading Covid-19 and leading by example.”