More patients with Covid admitted for other reasons

THE majority of patients in London’s hospitals with Covid were admitted for another reason, official data show.

It is the first time since the figures were first reported in June that the majority of Covid patients in the capital are being treated primarily for something else – known as “incidental” admissions.

On Jan 11, 51.2 per cent of patients with confirmed Covid in London hospitals were there being treated primarily for something else, up from 38.2 per cent the previous week.

Across England, 44 per cent of beds occupied by Covid patients were being used to care for those undergoing treatment for something else, up from 37 per cent in the previous week.

The East of England has the highest number of Covid patients who are not mainly sick with the virus, rising from 38.2 per cent to 52.3 per cent as of Jan 11.

The figures come as the number of patients waiting to start treatment

‘We may be at the end of the beginning of this wave but we are far from out of the woods’

reached six million at the end of November, a new record high.

The number of people having to wait more than a year to start treatment stood at 306,996, down from 312,665 in the previous month, but up 60 per cent from the number waiting a year earlier, in November 2020, which was 192,169.

A total of 18,585 people in England were waiting more than two years to start routine hospital treatment at the end of November last year, up from 16,225 at the end of October.

Emergency care is also facing unprecedented demand, with 73.3 per cent in England seen within the target time of four hours in December, down from 74 per cent in November and 80.3 per cent in December 2020.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, warned that the health service is still facing “several weeks” of winter pressures. “We may be at the end of the beginning of this wave but we are far from out of the woods,” Mr Taylor said.

The data also show the number of NHS staff off work for Covid reasons is now falling.

While there has been a 2 per cent rise week on week between Jan 2 and 9, the daily data suggest that, after reaching a peak of 49,941 on Jan 5, the numbers have dropped every day since then.