Chair of Addenbrooke's Hospital talks about how they're gearing up for a possible second Covid-19 wave

Today ITV News Anglia's Jonathan Wills spoke to Mike Moore, the Chair at one of our leading hospitals, Addenbrooke's. We wanted to find out whether hospitals in the region are expecting a second wave of Covid, and if so, how they are gearing up for it.

Addenbrooke's Hospital is leading the treatment. Credit: ITV Anglia

Here's some of the key points from their conversation:

  • Has the Government given Addenbrooke's any indication as to whether there will be a second wave of Covid-19?

Mike Moore said: "They're clearly indicating to us to expect that there will be continued Covid activity, a second wave. The virus has not gone away and there is not yet a vaccine ready to solve it so to speak."

  • What guidance were you given from the Government at the beginning of the pandemic in terms of clearing patients?

Mike Moore said: "We were very clear in the guidance we got from the Government and indeed the validity of it- to clear patients out of the hospital who didn't need to be there in order to enable us to have capacity to deal with Covid patients."

"We were all of us in a sense dealing with something we didn't have complete information about. We've all collectively got more experience and more information to hand now than we had then."

  • Lessons to be learnt?

Mike Moore said: "Plan, have the capacity, make sure we've got enough critical care capacity...clearly there's a lesson to be learnt across the country in making sure there's a parity of esteem between all of the elements- including care homes."

  • If there was a second wave, would Addenbrooke's be able to continue routine services?

Mike Moore said: "We had to delay or defer treatment for patients on many other conditions and that was an enormous worry all the way through this. We're building up capacity again, we're at 80% of our surgical capacity, 100% for example on bowel cancer screening now. So, we are building that up, we're at 85% of our out patient capacity before Covid."

"I don't think it gonna be easy... and it will depend on how big a surge if we have a second surge, but I'm confident we're in a better place now than we were."