Hospital patient total halves
NUMBER DOWN FROM 500 AT JANUARY PEAK, BUT ON A PAR WITH APRIL
THE number of Covid-positive patients being treated in Leicester’s hospitals has more than halved since the peak of the most recent wave.
Numbers still remain as high as they were in April, but have reduced from 500 at the end of January to 200 more recently.
Rebecca Brown, acting chief executive of University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, updated colleagues and board members on the latest Covid situation this week.
“At last check, there were 199 Covid patients in the trust - roughly the same number as the peak of the first wave,” she said.
“In ITU we are still at 120 per cent occupancy so things are still extremely busy.
“That said, we’ve certainly seen those numbers come down. Remember we were just shy of 500 (a month ago), so those numbers are coming down but we do remain extremely busy.”
The extent of the latest peak was revealed at last month’s meeting when Mrs Brown said January was the trust’s “most difficult month”.
Coronavirus-related deaths within the trust have also started to slowly reduce but remain at a high level, with 68 announced in Wednesday’s weekly update. A fortnight ago the figure was in the high 80s.
A total of 1,365 patients have died after testing positive for Covid at either Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester General Hospital or Glenfield Hospital since mid-March last year.
Mrs Brown said: “Our focus, particularly over the next few weeks, will be on making sure we’ve got very good plans and we’re bringing on, as soon as possible, our priority two patients and cancer patients as we did after the first wave to make sure we get those patients operated on as soon as possible.”
Further focus will also be placed on mental health and wellbeing support for trust staff with various initiatives.
THE daughter of a resident at a care home rated inadequate for the second time in a row says she is “constantly worrying” about her parent.
The Ashton Care Home, in Hinckley, has again been given the lowest rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) due to safety and staffing concerns. It remains in special measures.
The daughter, who did not want to be named, got in touch after reading the report about the John Street home.
She said: “When you have had to make the heartbreaking decision that a parent is no longer able to cope, and needs to go into a care home, you expect they will be cared for and looked after – especially when you are paying over £1,000 per week.
“We are feeling incredibly let down by The Ashton, which has not made improvements despite two previous inadequate ratings following CQC inspections.
“The difficult situation of having a loved one in a care home during the Covid pandemic has been made much worse by what is going on at The Ashton.”
A total of 51 people were living at the Hinckley home when inspectors visited in December. Their report was published this month. Inspectors said: “Due to our urgent concerns about the risk of harm relating to people whose physical and non-physical behaviours may challenge, we asked the provider for immediate assurances about what they would do to make sure people were safe.
“The provider sent us an action plan telling us how they would address the issues quickly. We are continuing to monitor the progress of this plan.”
Inspectors said the service was often short-staffed, medicines were not always managed safely – there had been occasions when time-critical medication had been given late and wrong doses had been administered – and systems for staff and management to report, review and investigate safety incidents, and act to prevent them reoccurring were “not always effective”.
Inspectors said the home had made the required improvements with regard to PPE, but: “There were widespread and significant shortfalls in service leadership.”