Public urged not to panic as NHS Grampian nears 'major incident' status
A top NHS Grampian official is telling MFR News that the possibility of declaring a 'major incident' due to Covid pressures shows good planning
Last updated 9th Jan 2022
One of NHS Grampian's top brass has urged the public not to panic, even as the health board teeters on the edge of a 'major incident'.
Covid pressures, including the numbers of cases, those needing hospital treatment and isolating staff is putting services under pressure.
NHS Scotland say major incidents are defined as "Any emergency that requires implementation of special arrangements by one or more of the emergency services, the NHS or local authority."
In practicality this would mean taking staff or resources from some areas with less urgent need and allocating them elsewhere.
In a statement last week NHS Grampian said:
"We have seen exponential growth of case numbers in Grampian and Scotland in the past fortnight. Based on our modelling data, we anticipate a continued and significant growth in the levels of the disease placing even more significant pressure on care homes, primary care teams, community teams and hospitals.
"Our planned response will include a declaration of a major incident when a number of key trigger points are reached. This decision will be taken by our Strategic and Tactical Commanders based on the system pressures, number of covid patients in hospital and levels of staff sickness from covid.
"Looking at our local data, these triggers could be met as early as the end of next week."
But NHS Grampian's head of health intelligence Jillian Evans is telling MFR that this is not a reason to panic, but instead a sign of good planning from the health board.
She said:
"What we're doing is getting our plans in place and being really four armed and four warned for this.
"it's a tough thing to do, but the what we're signaling at the moment is that we're really, really polishing our plans. For that, I mean, we have already got plans if, and when that situation occurs. But we're just we're just polishing those plans and being prepared for that situation."
Evans says that there is likely to be some difficult challenges for NHS Grampian in the coming weeks, but did say there are some encouraging signs going forward.
"We're only beginning to see the effects of Omicron in hospital now, you know, most people who've been in hospital have been infected with Delta, so particularly in Grampian, We're only beginning to see the effect of Omicron in hospital now" She continued.
On a report issued by public health Scotland last week, Evans said:
"The public Health Scotland report talks about it being about 1% of those infected(percentage who need hospital treatment).
" it's early days with the data and we've got to be careful, But if that if that is correct, then that's fantastic news.
"combined with how long people stay in hospital, and Omicrom predominantly affects younger people at the moment who don't tend to stay in for a long time. But if if that holds out for older people to, then that's another bit of good news."
NHS Grampian are being aided by the arrival of some members of the military, drafted in to support various healthboards across the country.
38 personnel, from the army, navy and airforce, began working shifts this weekend, across various services.
And Evans says that will help with their response, saying:
"Having military help is tremendous. I mean, it gives us a boost and they provide much needed support.
"I mean, it's it's of course working alongside a really big NHS army."