Leeds hospital cancels operations as Covid patient numbers jump 30%

Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust says only essential operations are going ahead

Operations have been cancelled at Leeds Teaching Hospital as numbers of coronavirus cases increase (Getty)

One of the largest NHS trusts in England has become the latest to announce it is being forced to cancel operations for patients after the number of coronavirus cases jumped 30 per cent over the weekend.

Bosses at Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust said the numbers of Covid patients on its wards on Tuesday was now higher than the peak of the first wave in April. It had 263 patients in beds with 22 in critical care and was expecting these numbers to rise. A week ago there were 148 patients with coronavirus.

In a message to staff on Monday, shared with The Independent, deputy chief medical officer for the Leeds trust, David Berridge said: “Over the weekend and continuing today, our hospitals are under significant pressure due to the steep rise in patients testing positive for Covid-19.”

He said there were 239 patients with the virus in hospital on Monday with 25 in critical care. On Friday the trust had just 184 patients, showing numbers had jumped almost 30 per cent in just three days.

In a statement the trust confirmed “only essential operations” were taking place and warned of “difficult decisions” in the days ahead as patients were sorted by priority.

It said: “Not only is the number of Covid cases increasing but so is the rate of increase. Local modelling based on prevalence data indicates that it may continue to rise for the next two weeks. The majority of admissions over the weekend has been older people with respiratory conditions. The infection rate for over-59s has increased from 165 per 100,000 last Saturday to 269 per 100,000.”

It added: “We are standing down some planned operations due to current pressures which means that some patients will have their treatment postponed; only essential operations are going ahead in most cases.

“We have stopped elective inpatient orthopaedics at Chapel Allerton completely and we have begun a rolling programme of theatre closures to increase critical care capacity.

“We expect this to continue throughout the week, which means some difficult decisions as we prioritise cases of higher urgency. We are prioritising urgent treatments, including cancer operations.”

Hospitals across the northeast and Yorkshire region have begun to report a surge in admissions during the past week with parts of the region also having some of the highest Covid-19 infection rates in the country.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, which runs St James’s Hospital and the Leeds General Infirmary, is only the latest hospital to announced closures, with Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust and Rotherham NHS Trust confirming cancellations on Monday.

According to the latest daily data on coronavirus infections, the northeast and Yorkshire NHS region had 1,962 patients in hospital with Covid-19 on Monday, an increase of 47 per cent on a week earlier.

In his message to staff Mr Berridge added: “Our currently overall bed occupancy is far greater than in the first wave so there is very significant pressure on our inpatient capacity.”

He said the trust was working to open up extra beds for Covid-19 patients but added: “Unfortunately, as a result, we have had to cancel some operations and expect this to continue throughout the week due to pressures on beds in all area of our hospitals.”

He also warned that the city was likely to have to move into the higher tier three level for Covid-19, with discussions ongoing between the government and local council.

He urged hospital staff to follow the rules on social distancing both inside the hospital and outside.

The hospital trust added: “Nightingale Yorkshire and the Humber remains on standby as part of a wider regional escalation plan, which would increase capacity of the NHS to care for Covid-19 patients and create additional capacity in the independent sector.

“Our message to patients and the people of Leeds is that we would encourage them to use health services when they need them. We support the messages from the local authority asking people not to mix with others unnecessarily and reduce social contact, where possible.

“We ask that people do this to protect NHS staff so that we can care for others.”