Earlier today Lee Rowley, Member of Parliament for North East Derbyshire, and I spoke to the Chief Executive of the Chesterfield Royal Hospital. We thought it would be helpful to share an update.
The hospital currently has 48 patients who have tested positive for Coronavirus (Covid-19), 7 of whom are in the ICU. Of the 215 patients the hospital has had, 54% of them have gone home within four days. Very sadly, 47 patients have lost their lives.
Both Lee and I stressed our gratitude to all the staff at the hospital for the amazing work they are doing for our communities, and it was amazing to hear that the research team at the hospital are one of the leading contributors in the country when it comes to finding new treatments for Coronavirus (Covid-19).
Staff absences are significantly down from when we last spoke a couple of weeks ago, and testing for frontline workers has increased. Personal Protection Equipment stocks remain stable and the hospital does have significant capacity for more patients, should the need arise. In line with national modelling, the number of patients is expected to increase slightly, but the impact of social distancing has undoubtedly helped to reduce the spread of the infection and therefore the demand on hospitals.
One important note is that other hospital business, notably A&E visits, is down considerably. There is some concern that those with other conditions are not wanting to burden the hospital. We’d like to stress that you should continue to attend A&E if you require it.
Both Lee and I will be joining the many others at 8pm this evening to clap for all of those caring for people with Coronavirus (Covid-19). We cannot thank the staff at Chesterfield Royal for all of the work they are doing. The Chief Executive tells us that morale remains high, and the team are determined to defeat this virus.
