More COVID-19 patients in Dorset hospital beds in second wave

More COVID-19 patients are occupying Dorset's hospital beds now than at the peak of the first wave.

There are currently up to 145 patients with COVID-19 in hospitals across the county.

That's compared with 134 at the peak of the first wave of the pandemic.

Hospital capacity is one of the measures used to determine which tiers local areas end up in, these include:

• Case detection rates in all age groups

• Case detection rates in the over 60s and impact in care sector

• The rate at which cases are rising or falling

• Positivity rate (the number of positive cases detected as a percentage of tests taken

• Pressure on the NHS, including current and projected occupancy

But not all those who are in hospital came in with COVID-19.

Director of Public Health Dorset, Sam Crowe said:

"Not everyone who's counted is there as a consequence of COVID-19, so they're not all direct admissions because these are people that have caught the virus and required hospital treatment.

"Some people have acquired the virus and tested positive while already being in hospital for other conditions, so because of the outbreaks that we've had affecting a few of the wards it's a mixture of people with severe disease due to COVID and hospital-acquired infection.

"The question capacity is undoubtedly more difficult because the NHS has been trying to do this huge catch up programme called 'Recovery' so because lots and lots of people have their procedures delayed in the early part of the pandemic quite rightly the NHS has been trying to say 'let's get them back in, let's try to get our services operating as near to normal as possible so that we can catch up on some of that essential care that people have missed out on' and others have made the point that maybe you know the harm that is stacking up among people who are not able to have those procedures could be just as great as the harm due to COVID-19 so it's a difficult balancing at this going on."

He says it's made even more complex by the fact that additional distance is now required in wards to make sure they're safe from transmission, meaning they can have fewer beds on each ward. That's in addition to longer waits for discharging to ensure care homes stay safe from the pandemic.

Hospitals have a few options if they do come under too much pressure, such as delaying non-urgent care. These are seen as a last resort and have not been used yet in the second wave of the pandemic in Dorset.

Coronavirus Overview

Public Health Bosses are positive about the effect the lockdown has had on the case rate in Dorset and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.

Most recent data shows:

• 7 day case rates per 100,000

• BCP 148.7 (compared to 239.5 last week)

• Dorset 69.5 (compared to 111.0 last week)

Confirmed cases in last 7 days

• BCP: 588 (compared to 947 last week)

• Dorset: 263 (compared to 420 last week)