NHS Hospital Trust Board says Covid 19 figures ‘stable’ at Peterborough City Hospital, as other services begin to open up

The members of the Board of Directors at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust (NWAFT), the NHS trust that oversees Peterborough City Hospital (PCH), have been told that C-19 figures are now stable.
Peterborough City HospitalPeterborough City Hospital
Peterborough City Hospital

Speaking that their meeting (13 October), CEO Caroline Walker said: “We have seen no significant change in the number of patients with Covid-19 being cared for in our hospitals in the past few months.

“Our staff are caring for a daily average of 50 patients and we are seeing a mix of those who have been vaccinated, either partially or fully, with those who have not.

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“Our critical care teams are seeing fewer Covid patients needing their support, for which we are thankful.

“We continue to have designated wards for Covid-positive patients at both our Peterborough City and Hinchingbrooke Hospital sites.

“The prevalence of infection in our local communities remains higher than in some parts of the country and as such we expect to be caring for patients with Coronavirus for a considerable time yet

“We are currently continuing to operate restricted visiting as a precautionary measure to reduce the spread of infection in our hospitals.

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“We are regularly reviewing this position with advice from our Infection Prevention and Control Team. Exemptions continue for patients receiving end of life care, for carers and for parents of children in our care.

“There are no changes to existing visiting arrangements for people using our maternity services.”

On Monday 27 September the Trust began its clinics to administer the Covid-19 booster and the flu vaccination to  staff.

These clinics are running seven days a week at the PCH and Hinchingbrooke sites, while satellite clinics for NWAFT staff are working at Stamford and Rutland Hospital, as well as the Princess of Wales Hospital in Ely and at Doddington Hospital.

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Ms Walker went on to add: “Take up from staff has been very positive so far. The majority of eligible staff are receiving a double vaccination in one clinic visit to give us the best chance of protecting ourselves, our patients and our colleagues and families this winter.

“I want to thank all of our teams delivering this service to our workforce and I would also like to thank our staff for their support in ensuring we can continue to fight the Covid-19 and Flu viruses.”

The Board of Directors who meet in public bi-monthly, were also told that the hospitals under their trust are now preparing earnestly for the coming winter.

Ms Walker said: “As well as vaccinating our staff and reopening the Minor Injuries Unit at Stamford Hospital, we have a series of additional plans in place to ensure we can continue to run our services as smoothly and efficiently as possible during the forthcoming winter months.

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“Our Winter Plan is being drafted with input from our staff who joined a planning session held on 13 September and learning from last winter’s experiences; but we know winter can present greater challenges of high demand for urgent and emergency care services.

“As we have seen higher-than-usual attendances at both our Emergency Departments and at the Urgent Treatment Centre at PCH throughout the summer, we anticipate needing to adapt further to accommodate greater demand as we head into the colder weather.

“Our Emergency and Medicine Division leads are working to specific actions in the Winter Plan which includes recruiting additional clinicians, remodelling some patient pathways and increasing our Same Day Emergency Care facilities to ensure more patients can be treated via this route which means they can avoid an overnight stay in hospital, and we have put funds aside in our financial plan to develop these actions.”

The next meeting of the NWAFT Board of Directors in public will be on Tuesday, 14 December 2021.