RBH nowhere near capacity despite Tier Two talks
THE number of Covid-19 patients being treated at Royal Berkshire Hospital is increasing but the hospital is “nowhere near capacity”.
Reading Borough Council has held discussions with the government about potentially moving to Tier 2 restrictions, as case numbers in Reading continue to rise.
When an area’s seven-day infection rate reaches 100 cases per 100,000, it is considered for Tier 2 restrictions and Reading’s currently stands at 90.2.
The amount of pressure on hospitals in each area is also taken into account by the government, but Meradin Peachey, director of Public Health Berkshire, insists Reading’s largest hospital is coping well at moment.
She said: “They are starting to report small numbers of Covid diagnoses coming though A&E.
“They are starting to see more admissions for respiratory conditions and they are starting to use the High Dependency Unit for Covid.
“But they are nowhere near capacity, so it’s very small rises at the moment.
“It’s nowhere near the patterns we’re seeing in the north of England.”
Her comments came at a meeting of West Berkshire Council’s Local Outbreak Engagement Board on Friday, October 23.
Rate of increase
At that meeting, Matt Pearce, head of public health at West Berkshire Council, said the infection rate for West Berkshire is not increasing as fast as predicted.
But he also explained that case numbers are still rising and West Berkshire has recorded two Covid deaths in recent weeks (September 26 and October 9) for the first time since August.
Since October 5, there have been two outbreaks at schools, two workplace outbreaks, one outbreak at an NHS facility and five confirmed cases at care homes.
How the rest of Berkshire is fairing
So far, West Berkshire has recorded 872 confirmed cases and 135 people have died after contracting the virus.
The latest seven-day infection rate is 53 cases per 100,000 people – that was the lowest recorded in Berkshire.
Slough, which recorded the highest rate in the county (148.5 per 100,000), will move to Tier 2 restrictions on October 24.
Maidenhead and Windsor (136) and Oxfordshire (88.6) have also held discussions with the government this week about potentially moving into Tier 2, due to spikes in cases.
West Berkshire is still covered by medium alert (Tier 1) restrictions and has not held any discussions with the government about further measures.
Slowing
“There are some indications that it (growth in cases) might be slowing,” Mr Pearce said.
“Initially we thought we were two to three weeks behind some of the higher areas of the country, however, the feeling is we may be four, five or six weeks behind some of those areas in the north.
“But it’s really hard to tell at this moment in time.”
He added: “Our rates are lower, but we’re also a rural part of the country, so that will probably play into our hands.
“But cases are increasing, despite all the measures that are in place.”
Ms Peachey added: “What we found in the South East a couple of weeks ago was cases started rising at about 6.5 per cent (a week).
“We modelled it and that would have meant all of us would have been well over 100 cases per 100,000 within about two or three weeks and we would have been in the territory of Tier 3 by Christmas.
“But what’s happened over the last couple of weeks, is it’s actually slowed. It’s not (increasing) as fast as originally expected.”