Western Morning News (Saturday)
Covid crisis leads to property boom
‘As things stand we have the capacity to manage the cases’
WESTCOUNTRY estate agents are experiencing soaring demand for property as people flock to the region in search of lifestyle changes prompted by the coronavirus crisis.
After a period of uncertainty when the first Covid-19 lockdown began in March, the market restarted in May. Estate agents in the region say they saw extraordinary levels of interest from property buyers.
The government’s stamp duty holiday, which is due to end on March 31, also added to the appeal of moving home.
Simon Cooper, senior partner at Stags, said: “Statistics show that the level of enquiries from our website during the summer and autumn of 2020 were 300% more than the norm for the previous two years, showing the demand for Westcountry property throughout the UK and abroad.
“The number of viewings during 2020, despite having two months of a full lockdown, ended up being some 6% up on the previous year, whilst the average price of a property sold by Stags in 2020 was up by an astounding 11.6% compared to the previous year.”
The effects of Covid-19 has changed priorities for buyers and Roger Wilkinson of Wilkinson Grant & Co said there was interest in property “benefiting from home office space, south-facing gardens, great commuter access and a change in lifestyle.”
With its beautiful coast and countryside, and welcoming towns and villages, the Westcountry has always been a draw for people looking for a new way of life and it looks set to continue this year with “unprecedented demand” predicted.
TEN more people with Covid-19 have died at hospitals across Devon and Cornwall, latest figures out yesterday show.
NHS data confirmed there were three more coronavirus fatalities at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital and four at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth. A further three deaths were also reported at hospitals in Cornwall.
Of the three deaths at the RD&E, one happened on January 15, one on January 17, and one on January 20. It now means that 215 patients have died with the virus at the RD&E.
At Derriford, there have been 152 patients who have died after testing positive for coronavirus since the pandemic began, with the total across Devon’s hospitals reaching 525.
Since the pandemic started, there have been 152 deaths reported in Cornwall’s hospitals, with 116 at Royal Cornwall Hospital and 36 at Cornish Partnership Foundation Trust.
In better news on the crisis, it was reported yesterday by health chiefs that pressures in Devon hospitals as a result of rising number of coronavirus cases are ‘not as bad as forecast,’ with the NHS in the county in a better place than neighbouring areas.
Devon County Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board on Thursday heard that while there were more patients in hospital in the county than during the first peak, they do have the capacity to manage the demand and it is not impacting on urgent non-Covid healthcare.
While the board heard that while there was pressure in the system, Devon hospitals were in a position where they have been able to take patients in from elsewhere in the South West and the South East to help healthcare colleagues in those areas.
And Dr Paul Johnson, clinical chair of the Devon Clinical Commissioning Group, said that if their modelling is correct, then the next week should see the peak of admissions and occupancy in hospital before plateauing and dropping, and if so, then Devon will have the capacity to care for those who need it.
Latest figures as of the position on Tuesday saw that in two of Devon’s four hospitals, plus the Nightingale, the number of patients after a positive Covid-19 test had risen as of the previous Tuesday.
The number of patients in Derriford Hospital had risen from 72 to 110, while Torbay Hospital had risen from 25 to 34, and the Nightingale had seen numbers rise from 34 to 44.
But North Devon District Hospital had seen a reduction in patient numbers from nine to seven, while the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital had seen numbers fall from 99 to 95.
As of Tuesday, there were eight patients in mechanical ventilation beds in Exeter, three in Torbay and 14 at Derriford.
Not every patient necessarily in hospital after a positive Covid-19 test was admitted because of the disease, with some contracting the virus while in hospital, and others admitted for other reasons but also found to have the virus.
The increase in admissions reflects the rise in the number of cases across the county, but also that patients from elsewhere have been transferred into the region.
Derriford Hospital is currently one of the four main hospitals at the peak of patients since the beginning of the pandemic, although Torbay and Exeter are not far below the peak of the ‘second wave’ in November. North Devon has a quarter of the occupancy from its peak.
Speaking at the meeting, Dr Johnson, when asked how hospitals were managing, said: “In general we are seeing more people in hospital than the previous peaks and around 10% are needing intensive care, around the same as the first peak, and we are using the Nightingale to utilise extra bed capacity.
“It does mean that, as things stand, we have the capacity to manage the number of cases we are getting, and if the modelling is right, then over the next couple of weeks we should see the peak, then a plateau and drop, then we should have the capacity to care for those in hospital.
“One impact of that though, is that all hospitals are operating at ‘green
surge’, so things that can be deferred safely, like routine operations are, so that staff and spaces can be used to provide some more critical care and general medical beds during this time. But it is not impacting on those urgent non-Covid things we need to be doing.
“We are in a better place than our neighbours, both north and south of us, and we are looking at how we can mutually support them, and we are looking to care for some of the patients from outside of Devon. We have taken some from elsewhere in the South West and some from the South East to support healthcare colleagues across the county.” Suzanne Tracey, Chief Executive of the RD&E, said that they have done a lot to make sure that they can meet the demands.