Covid: University Hospitals Dorset still facing extreme pressure

Earlier this month, University Hospitals Dorset declared a critical incident with staff sickness levels rising as well as Covid hospital admissions.

Consultant physician and deputy chief medical officer, Dr Matt Thomas, said around 200 medically fit patients were still waiting to be discharged.

He told the Daily Echo: “We are still under extreme pressure with bed availability and flow through the hospital, the pressures have not gone away.

“Admissions don’t go down until cases, it’s usually around two weeks.

“The way out of hospital is difficult, you need the right amount of social care from our colleagues in primary care to get people out, there isn’t one simple factor.

“I would hope we would start to see admissions coming down in the next little while.

“We have seen cases going down in the community and the number of admissions is flat. There’s 75 Covid patients and we’d hope that will start to come down.

“One of the problems is it’s hard to look forward at the peak, you look back and realise what was the peak.”

Dr Thomas said the number of staff members off sick was starting to decrease in line with cases in the community.

He said one of the ways families can help is by intervening with care while care packages are prepared.

“That would be a great help to us,” he said. “It would allow to discharge patients and create the capacity we need.

“My concerns are, we know government will be discussing plan B, people will relax and Covid will fly back up.

“People need to remain alert and carry on wearing masks.”

Paying tribute to staff at the hospitals, Dr Thomas said they have “gone the extra mile”.

He said: “I can’t fault the staff’s dedication and their willingness to change what they are doing.

“People giving up their time and doing this without any complaint.

“Staff have gone the extra mile at a time when they are tired and have been doing this for two years, we asked them to step up and they have.”