Harrogate NHS staff preparing for "what might come" as covid cases rise
There are 13 covid patients being treated at the hospital, up from eight last week
Hospital staff in Harrogate are bracing themselves for what could be their busiest ever winter period.
Staff illnesses, isolation and an increase in covid cases are putting more pressure on the service, with workers fearing it'll get worse before it gets better.
The infection rate in Harrogate district currently sits at 555.2 per 100,000 and is higher than the North Yorkshire average of 496.9 per 100,000.
Hospitalisations haven't increased to peak numbers, but there are currently 13 people being treated for coronavirus at the site. This is up from eight last week.
Staff believe this is the "calm before the storm" of people infected with covid later becoming ill and needing to be hospitalised.
Steve Russell, chief executive at Harrogate Hospital, said:
"We're just preparing ourselves for what might come over the coming days and weeks. We're busier than normal with the usual winter pressures but then on top of that we're starting to see covid cases rise in the hospital as well.
"People can be lulled into a false sense of security by looking at the hospitalisations today, but there is a delay between people getting the virus, getting unwell and then potentially needing hospital care. We've got 13 covid patients today, we had 12 earlier this week and had eight last week so the numbers are rising."
There were warnings from the NHS in North Yorkshire that some staff could be asked to cancel leave if infections continued to increase and more staff were taken off ill.
But Mr Russell said this would be a "last resort".
He added:
"That is the last thing that we would want to do. Our staff need a break after the year they've had. People feel like it's always something and that there's always another ask. People have adapted incredibly well but then again in front of us, at arguably the most difficult time of the year for the NHS, there's that sense of there's another ask for us to step up yet again.
"I would be lying if I said morale was anything other than lower than we would like it to be. People are knackered and they're having to deal with one thing after another so they're very tired. There's a degree of emotional exhaustion that exists and there's the anxiety about what might be round the corner."