Coventry health boss warns of "toughest winter" ahead in hospitals

NHS services are bracing for the toughest winter ever, a senior Coventry health official warned this week.

Elaine Clarke, deputy chief nursing officer at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, said planning for the coming months started in earnest in May.

There are expected to be immense pressures on units both locally and nationally, with the risk of increased hospitalisations from Covid-19 combining with a resurgent flu virus.

Sites will once again have to open extra capacity to manage the seasonal surge.

Ms Clarke reminded yesterday’s health and wellbeing test and trace sub-group that clinicians were already battling to clear a backlog of routine screenings, operations and other appointments delayed by the pandemic.

On the months ahead, she said: “As we all know this is going to be the most challenging winter that the NHS will ever face – so we have to be ready.

“We started our meetings in May … we have to factor in the complexities of Covid-19.

“We will still be living with that throughout the winter and we’re going to build on the learning that we’ve had through the last winter, which was incredibly challenging for us.

“The wellbeing of our staff is incredibly important for this because staff are still tired everywhere, it’s been very difficult emotionally for some members of the teams.”

She said that the past few months’ work was intended to put local services in “a good position” but region-wide there would need to be a concerted effort to cope with demand.

Earlier in the meeting, Liz Gaulton, Coventry City Council’s director of public health, had provided an update on the Covid-19 situation in the city.

The case rate as of yesterday (Monday) was 299 per 100,000 – it has dropped off somewhat in recent weeks and now sits around where it was a month ago.

Although Ms Gaulton warned that the return of schoolchildren and university students was likely to lead to a fresh increase.

Coventry was said to be around “the middle of the pack” in terms of infections nationwide.

And she added that it was clearly encouraging that Covid cases were not translating to serious illness in anything like the numbers during previous waves.

“Yes the same number of people may be testing positive for Covid, but the comparison is minimal restrictions compared to national lockdown.

“And the impact of people being admitted to hospital and of those being admitted to hospital being poorly enough to need a ventilator is much less.

“So it really tells us a positive story in terms of the impact of the vaccination in holding back Covid rates and allowing people to go about their daily lives in a more and more normal fashion.”

Local admissions were said to stable – at around 40/41 a week – but the total number of people actually on the wards is starting to move up gradually.

“The reality is we’re now in an endemic situation with Covid across the country.

“So our Covid response needs to be proportionate to that. The community support for severe restrictions is I think, in the main, no longer there so it’s about learning to live with Covid.

“Clearly being sensible in terms of hands, face, space, ventilation messages which are as important as ever.”

Her comments came amid national reports that ministers may be drawing-up contingency plans for a “firebreak” lockdown – perhaps coinciding with October half-term – in the event the NHS is once again at risk of being overwhelmed.

Much may depend on if there is a sustained increase as schools return across England and how this converts into hospital admissions.

Although the suggestions that another lockdown was being planned were played down by ministers today.

A government spokesman said: “These kind of measures would only be reintroduced as a last resort to prevent unsustainable pressure on our NHS.”