55 care homes in Cornwall not taking new residents amid Covid outbreaks
Both the Cornwall Partnership and Royal Cornwall Hospitals' trusts have suspended visiting
Last updated 15th Mar 2022
55 care homes across Cornwall are not taking any new residents because of outbreaks of Covid-19.
Both the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust have temporarily suspended visiting.
NHS Kernow says cases remain high, with bosses urging people to stick to restrictions in care settings.
They are also asking anyone attending hospital to respect the staff, after revealing a nurse was spat at for asking someone to wear a face mask.
Hospitals in the Duchy are currently treating 95 patients who have tested positive.
Bosses say outbreaks in care homes is having a significant impact on the NHS’ ability to discharge people from hospital and into a residential or nursing care home when they have no clinical reason to be there.
It means people who are waiting in the emergency department or on an ambulance cannot be admitted to hospital as there is no bed for them to be admitted to.
Coupled with a continued increase in demand from people seeking help from family doctors, community pharmacists, NHS 111 and a lack of adult social care packages to support people, Cornwall’s health and care system remains under huge pressure.
Coronavirus is one of the reasons the RCHT has been operating at critical incident level since October.
The chairman of NHS Kernow said the system has not been under this much pressure during the past two years and is once again urging people to use the most appropriate service for their condition, and to stop acting as if the pandemic is over.
Dr Paul Cook said: "We want to be honest with the public about the significant pressures we’re under, the sheer volume of demand we are managing from people seeking help, and the impact COVID is having on our ability to provide the safe care we want to.
"COVID cases are rising fast in Cornwall and it’s affecting our ability to keep patients and staff safe.
"We have also seen an increase in people being aggressive towards our staff when asked to wear a mask in our hospitals, GP surgeries, pharmacies, and clinics because they think COVID has gone away. It hasn’t.
"We need people to keep helping us by wearing face coverings, keeping a safe distance from others, getting vaccinated, testing regularly, especially if coming to an NHS location, and to only call 999 or visit our emergency department if they have an urgent, life-threatening condition".