Hospital remains closed to all new admissions
AHOSPITAL has closed to new admissions to “avoid being the cause of an outbreak” after tests revealed a number of staff with no symptoms had coronavirus.
Weston General Hospital in Weston-super-Mare has not been accepting new patients since 8am on Monday to maintain patient and staff safety.
All inpatients have been tested for the virus, and the hospital is in the process of testing all staff in clinical areas who may have had some contact with patients.
University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust did not respond to questions about reports that 40 per cent of staff who had been tested saw their tests come back positive.
John Penrose, MP for Westonsuper-Mare, tweeted that the hospital had seen a “spike in infections” and was being temporarily closed for a deep clean.
“Just spoke to local health chiefs. Weston hospital has a spike in infections & so is being closed to new patients temporarily for a deep clean etc before reopening. There’s a temporary A&E outside, so that continues, & inpatients will go to Taunton or Bristol until we reopen,” he tweeted.
In further tweets, Mr Penrose said: “Met again with health chiefs. They say the hospital isn’t full & there are spare beds, but tests showed some staff infected without symptoms, so they stopped new arrivals to avoid being the cause of an outbreak. They expect to reopen once deep clean/ isolation complete.
“They also said no evidence to show if recent cases are caused by cross-infection in the hospital, seafront visitors or something completely different & (rightly) they won’t guess. They’re running tests which should prove the source, but we won’t know until the results are in. ”
Our sister website Somerset Live published details of a memo purportedly sent to NHS staff, which reportedly said the number of inpatients with Covid-19 had risen from 30 to 64.
Somerset Live reported that the memo added: “Also on testing asymptomatic staff are reporting 40 per cent of those tested as Covid-19 positive.”
On Tuesday evening, a statement was released by Dr William Oldfield, medical director of University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust.
Dr Oldfield said there was currently a “high number of patients with coronavirus” in the hospital and said “appropriate segregation” was in place.
“Testing for symptomatic staff and household contacts has been offered across the trust since the beginning of April,” Dr Oldfield said.
“In addition, there is an emerging picture of asymptomatic staff testing positive for the virus.
“Any members of staff who have tested positive have self-isolated in line with national guidance.
“We are also in the process of testing all staff in clinical areas at the hospital who may have had some patient contact.”
He said there was appropriate levels of personal protective equipment (PPE) available and that there had been “significant efforts” to minimise unnecessary staff movements across the hospital.
Dr Oldfield added that people needing care were being provided for in other settings as work continued to reopen the A&E department “as soon as possible”.