Coronavirus patients rising again, warns Wolverhampton hospital boss
The number of coronavirus patients in hospital is rising again in Wolverhampton as an NHS boss warned the city was now firmly into the second wave of the pandemic.
David Loughton, chief executive of the trust which runs New Cross Hospital, said the numbers of coronavirus patients were rising but levels were still "nowhere near" where they were in March and April.
Mr Loughton said planning was in place to deal with the second wave and that patient numbers were being kept under "constant review".
Wolverhampton was among the worst hit areas of the country in the early part of the pandemic before patients numbers reduced and health bosses will be desperate to ensure the city is not as badly affected this time.
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He told the annual general meeting of the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust: "A lot of planning is in place for the second wave which we are now into.
"Numbers are starting to rise. They are nowhere near what we saw in March and April this year but we need to keep this under constant review."
Mr Loughton said support was still being offered to frontline staff who have had to deal with Covid patients.
He said staff and bosses had done a "tremendous" job in responding to the pandemic.
He said: "We didn't know what we getting into and had no opportunity to think about it. The numbers ramped up enormously, we were just behind London dealing with Covid-19.
"I'm sad to say 283 deaths later it is very different circumstances and it will have long-term impacts for some of our staff. They didn't come into the NHS to deal with that sort of scale of people dying.
"We've done an awful lot of support and we will continue to do so."
The last coronavirus patient to die at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust died on August 27, according to NHS figures.
In total 288 people have died at the trust after contracting coronavirus.
Meanwhile a further six coronavirus deaths were announced across the Black Country, Birmingham and Staffordshire on Tuesday, including three at care homes in Sandwell.
Two patients died in hospital in Birmingham and one died at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley.
