Number of coronavirus patients at Shropshire's hospitals continues to fall
The number of beds occupied by coronavirus patients at Shropshire's major hospitals has continued to fall since its peak a fortnight ago – suggesting a turning point in the pandemic, new figures show.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, which runs Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford's Princess Royal Hospital, was caring for 165 coronavirus patients on January 29, NHS England figures show.
But as of Tuesday, the number had dropped to 122 – it had been 147 on the same day the previous week.
It comes as the rates of new Covid cases in the county continue to drop, although not as fast as other areas.
Health bosses are urging people to stay home as much as possible, with mobility data tracked by Google suggesting residents in Telford and Wrekin are on the move more than other places.
As the county's hospitals started seeing more Covid patients, some planned procedures and operations were also put on hold and as a result waiting lists have significantly grown.
Addressing a recent SaTH board meeting, its chief operating officer Nigel Lee said: "The levels of Covid [patients] rose significantly through January.
"We were certainly double the amount that we saw at any time before Christmas and it's been a significant challenge for all our teams.
"That has also entailed a significant expansion of critical care."
He said there are a number of key areas the trust has focused on, including working closely with Nuffield Health Shrewsbury Hospital to use the capacity there.
Impact
"From the end of last summer, our intention and our objective as well as nationally has been to see how we'd recover from the first wave," Nigel said.
"Unfortunately, we've then seen consistent challenge through the autumn which really didn't step down at all for us and then increased rapidly during January and into this period.
"Our impact on waiting lists, weather that be diagnostics, admitted or non admitted care, as well as for cancer patients, has been significant.
"We have continued to prioritise our services.
"We maintained as much as we could for as long as we could and during the first part of January we had to step down further routine services as, firstly, the patient impact became more significant and there was the national lockdown orders, as well as the impact on staff and as we've needed to concentrate on manning our most critical services.
"Clinical prioritisation continues on a routine basis, the waiting list is prioritised."
