NHS in 'eye of the storm' and under 'enormous pressure' treating Covid-19 patients
A hospital chief in the Black Country has said the NHS is "well and truly in the eye of the storm" as it deals with an influx of coronavirus patients.
Professor David Loughton, chief executive of the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, said the service was under "enormous" pressure by the virus.
It comes after the region was plunged into Tier 4 restrictions due to rising coronavirus cases amid fears over the new more transmittable strain.
Professor Loughton, from the trust which runs New Cross Hospital, said: "It's really important to understand we haven't got the [Covid-19] numbers we're seeing in the South East and London, but we have to do everything we can to ensure the numbers don't climb.
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"We have to understand the pressure on the NHS is enormous. I've watched TV and you see queues of ambulances and again, from my organisation, I've seen the worst ambulance turnover times I've ever seen in the last couple of works.
"Part of our winter surge plan is to put nurses in corridors in A&E and nurse patients in corridors to release ambulances to get back on the road to answer 999 calls.
"We can't do that now because it's unsafe to put patients in corridors because you don't know who's positive and negative. We test every patient and it takes time for the results to come back."
Nightingale
The health boss said Birmingham's Nightingale Hospital remained on standby – and ready within 72 hours notice – but stressed there were still "empty beds" within his organisation.
Latest virus figures in the week up to December 31 show the rate in Wolverhampton stands at 416.5 per 100,000, Walsall is 298.8 per 100,000, Dudley is 288.2 per 100,000 and Sandwell is at 342.2 per 100,000.
But health chiefs revealed cases are rising at a "much slower rate" than in London and the South East, which would indicate lower levels of the virus variant in the West Midlands.
Professor Loughton added: "We're doing well in terms of vaccinating NHS staff and the vulnerable in the community and it's going at a pace – and we expect, next Monday, that pace to pick up when we get the new vaccine which doesn't have the same requirements for storage.
"The only thing I would say is that back in March we were looking at what happened in London and then the Black Country closely behind. We have to do everything we can to stop that from happening.
"All patients with Covid and without Covid are getting treatment, but it's a very difficult situation and I await the figures which will start to show the impact of Christmas on the cases.
"Today's Covid numbers are my order book for intensive care in two weeks' time. We're in a difficult period and I really do hope we see people are sensible and stay within their family or their bubble to stop the spread of this awful virus that has killed so many people."
