Follow this link to hear messages from Waverley’s Deputy leader Paul Follows and Penny Rivers Mayor of Godalming on COVID-2020.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Godalmingcommunity/permalink/2965117963774505/
The speed of COVID’s acceleration is spelt out in stark data on HSJ today which shows the number of COVID positive inpatients in English hospitals rose 2,256 to 16,183 over the seven days to 19 December.
The 16.2 per cent increase compares to one of 7.4 per cent in the previous seven-day period, underlining how the pandemic is speeding up.
If this rate is maintained, the English NHS will end 2020 with approximately the same number of COVID positive inpatients as at the peak of the pandemic on 12 April.
The Health Service paints the following picture for the regions:
- London: Responsible for the largest rise in patients, up 817 (39 per cent) to 2,909 on the 12 December figure.
- Eastern: Inpatient numbers jumped 536 (38 per cent) to 1,943, the highest ever total recorded in the region.
- South East: A rise of 376 inpatients (19.3 per cent) to 1,943, the highest total recorded since 20 April.
- South West: The fourth region to see a dramatic increase in inpatient numbers, up 208 (24.7 per cent) to 1,051, a figure last recorded on 17 April.
- Midlands: The region with the highest number of COVID positive inpatients. The number rose 7 per cent to a level equivalent to that on 14 April.
- North East and Yorkshire: Rose 4.5 per cent to 2,413. The region reported a similar number on 9 April.
- North West: Inpatient numbers remained flat for a fortnight. Its 2,253 inpatients is very similar to the number recorded on 28 April in the region.
WORRyIng. No Plan B for The Big C!
The ending of contracts with the independent sector has put cancer surgery in the capital under threat, writes Ben Clover on HSJ today.
COVID admissions have put pressure on services that can no longer turn to alternative providers. Although many of Waverley’s patients receive their cancer care at The Royal Surrey Hospital, some are also in the care of London hospitals.
The HSJ discovered that NHS England ended contracts with HCA, The London Clinic and the Cromwell Hospital at the end of August, after concerns about underutilisation.
Under the previous deal with the private sector, rules were in place to make sure low-priority private patients were not treated ahead of NHS patients who needed surgery urgently.
HCA and The Cromwell have confirmed the contracts were ended in August and were not renewed.
HSJ understands NHSE, under pressure from the Treasury, was not willing to pay the prices asked by the three private providers.
Just a little something to make you smile – after all this gloomy news.
We see that Sainsbury’s is saying that if the travel ban on UK freight continues for much longer we could see shortages of lettuce in our shops.
“Hope this isn’t just the tip of the iceberg”
This is very misleading. Havent we had enough of this Mystic Meg level of predictive nonsense and the cherry picking of isolated data to support the government narrative?
Please can you provide some context. What was the hospital admissions figure and no. of beds available for the past 10 years at this time of year?
It would refreshing and well received to see some effort made to question just how much capacity the NHS actually has compared to previous years. If you do feel so inclined, I’d be interested to see your findings.
Perhaps we should ask the when we’d expect the NHS to be safe enough that they ‘allow’ us all to return to normal life?
I suspect that day may never come if we continue the ‘the save the nhs’ rhetoric. According to that logic we should have all sat in lockdown every Xmas as the nhs has been in a capacity crisis at this time of year.
The statement about ‘if this rate continues we will hit April levels’ is incredibly misleading not only because of the lack of comparison of historic capacity but also because all the data shows just how low the death rates and admissions are compared to April.
I personally have family members in the NHS who are appalled at the notion that we should be thinking about saving the NHS and not the NHS saving us, especially when bed capacity is nowhere near historic lows this time of year (there is a lot of data to support this if you look for it).
Please investigate and question everything