Coronavirus in Portsmouth: Queen Alexandra Hospital boss tells of ‘tired’ staff dealing with pressures in Covid patient increases

Day-by-day staff are being redeployed from doing non-urgent treatment to help free up support for the most poorly patients needing the most intensive treatment.

Figures posted on social media by a senior QA Hospital medic reveal that 420 Covid-19 patients are in the hospital, up from 342 on December 29.

This is more than double the 185 Covid patients at the Cosham hospital during the first peak in spring last year.

Mark Cubbon, chief executive of the NHS trust that runs QA, told The News there has been ‘no tailing off’ of patients this winter and demand was ‘worrying’.

He said the hospital was set for increasing numbers of Covid patients in the next ‘few weeks’ and urged people to help slow the spread.

General beds, respiratory beds and those where patients can be mechanically ventilated are all facing an increase in demand.

Speaking after false claims were made online about the hospital being quiet, Mr Cubbon said: ‘We’ve seen an increase in the demand for each type of bed, and that’s worrying.

‘Some people don’t go on to have the more serious health consequences but for those that do, those who require the admission to hospital, and we have a significant number in our beds at the moment, and that number is rising, the only way to get that down is to have fewer people transmitting the virus to other people.

‘It doesn’t just affect other people, it affects all of us. If we can do those three things (hands, face, space), we will reduce the prevalence, the hospitalisation and people getting more seriously ill.’

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Data for the seven days up to January 1 show 1,328 new cases in Portsmouth, with a further 841 in Havant.

Staff at QA Hospital worked hard in the summer resuming elective non-urgent treatments for patients that were stopped in the spring. They are now battling this new spike.

He added that staff were ‘tired’ after a gruelling 10 months, and said: ‘They’re doing an incredible job but importantly we recognise that we’re not out of the woods yet, it’s still going to be quite an intense period over the next few weeks.’

Mr Cubbon said there had been no ‘tailing off’ of people presenting with symptoms, and those with the virus needed to stay in hospital longer.

This ‘builds up the pressure on the hospital,’ he said.

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He added: ‘The kind of pressure that we’re experiencing is that we are seeing more patients that are presenting at hospital requiring access to all urgent care services, patients that do have a respiratory problem and presenting with symptoms that are likely to be, or are, Covid positive kinds of symptoms.

‘The volume of those presenting and subsequent admissions has been steadily increasing across the last few weeks.’

Latest official NHS England figures showed the hospital had 342 Covid patients as of 8am on December 29.

Helen Atkinson, director of public health at Portsmouth City Council, said everyone has a crucial role to play in stopping the spread.

She said: ‘Now is the time for us all to stay at home, and do our bit to help slow the spread, protect our vital NHS services and save lives.

‘Your actions over the coming weeks can and will make a difference.’

Covid measures in society have slowed the spread of flu, and there have been fewer admissions at QA Hospital for slips and falls, Mr Cubbon said.

But he warned flu could still put pressure on the hospital.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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