Only 'essential operations' to take place in Leeds hospitals see as Covid patient numbers overtake first wave

Leeds General Infirmary sign Credit: PA

Only essential operations will go ahead at hospitals in Leeds as Covid-19 patient numbers went beyond those seen during the spring peak.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust – which runs Leeds General Infirmary and St James’s Hospital – said on Tuesday it has 263 Covid patients, including 22 in intensive care.

The trust said: “This means we have more Covid-19 patients in our hospitals now than at the peak of the pandemic in mid-April.

“Over the next 48 hours we expect the number of people in critical care to increase.

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

Staff at Leeds General Infirmary and St James’s University Hospital have been told the growing number of admissions mean it is “looking even more likely” the city in West Yorkshire will be moved into Tier 3 of coronavirus restrictions.

The Leeds trust, which has around 1,800 beds, said that there were 148 Covid patients in its hospital on Tuesday last week, which means that there had been a rise of 115, which is 78%, in a week.

(PA Graphics) Credit: PA Graphics

The news in Leeds will stoke growing fears about fast-rising numbers of coronavirus patients across Yorkshire.

The UK reported a further 22,885 coronavirus cases on Tuesday and 367 new Covid-19 related deaths.The figure is the highest daily death toll in five months when there were 422 deaths on May 27.

It follows the announcement from two trusts in South Yorkshire that they now have more patients who have tested positive for Covid-19 than during the first wave of the virus.

The trust, which runs Doncaster Royal Infirmary, said on Monday that the number of coronavirus patients on their wards has been “far beyond the first wave earlier this year” .

Rotherham Hospital also reported a jump in cases to beyond the spring peak.

South Yorkshire entered Tier 3 on Saturday.

Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust said it has closed three operating theatres at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield to enable staff to care for critically ill coronavirus patients.