Coronavirus: Covid-19 admissions at Whittington Hospital peaked a month ago
Doctors and nurses from the Whittington's A&E department ask people to stay at home. Picture: Anna Sweeney - Credit: Archant
The number of Covid-19 patients admitted to the Whittington Hospital peaked a month ago, newly released figures show.
Papers published by the Whittington Health NHS Trust suggest the number of confirmed Covid-19 inpatient admissions peaked in the week of March 29, when there were more than 80 new cases.
But there were fewer than 30 Covid-19 patients admitted in the week ending April 19.
The number of confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases at the hospital has dropped below 100 as of Wednesday last week.
The report notes: “The maximum surge in Covid-19 admissions was in the week ending [March 29] with the peak of Covid-19 swab negative high probability cases a week later. [...]
“The Trust staff have delivered a major patient-focused transformation of services in a very short time in order to provide the best care possible for a surge of admissions of patients with Covid-19.”
It says 400 people have been admitted to the Whittington with Covid-19 symptoms and, of these, 323 have tested positive for the virus.
There is a “high clinical probability” a further 77 patients have coronavirus, and these people have been cared for as though they it.
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Some 232 patients with “Covid-19 type illness” have been discharged from the hospital since the start of the pandemic.
In total, 45 coronavirus patients have been cared for in the Whittington’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU), of these 16 are women and 29 are men, and the average age is 66.
Fifteen coronavirus patients have been readmitted to the hospital after being discharged.
The Trust’s chief exec Siobhan Harrington states: “During the pandemic, there has been a very different experience in [emergency department] with the number of attendances reducing dramatically and the trust concentrating on ensuring patient safety. In March, there were 6,565 A&E attendances which was 3,155 attendances lower than 12 months ago in March 2019.”
As of Wednesday 97 have died with Covid-19 at the hospital.
The report also highlights a “never event” – the kind of mistake that should never happen – occurred in April “where a patient was unintentionally connected to air instead of oxygen in the emergency department”.
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