Six in 10 hospital trusts have more Covid-19 patients than first-wave peak

  • Anglia

  • Watch a report on the rollout of the coronavirus vaccines to care homes in the East of England by ITV News Anglia's Graham Stothard

More than half of all major hospital trusts in England currently have more Covid-19 patients than at the peak of the first wave of the virus, new analysis shows.

In two regions - eastern England and south-east England - more than three-quarters of trusts are above their first-wave peak.

Other trusts have seen their numbers rise so rapidly that they could pass their first-wave peak within days.

The analysis by the PA news agency found that of 139 acute hospital trusts who reported figures for January 5, 84 - or 60% - had more Covid-19 patients than at the peak of the first wave in spring 2020.

Examples in our region include:

  • East Suffolk & North Essex, which had 367 confirmed Covid-19 patients as of 8am on January 5, compared with a first-wave peak of 143.

  • Ipswich and Colchester hospitals are "full", while the NHS faces a "very, very serious situation", the chief executive of NHS East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust said.

Nick Hulme told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The real picture is certainly for the two hospitals I'm responsible for - Ipswich and Colchester - is that we're full.

"The problem with looking at capacity data or occupancy data is it doesn't tell a true picture - an empty bed is not necessarily an available bed because we do have to keep some beds empty for infection control reasons."

He said there had been a lot of "very damaging" misinformation "peddled by some individuals on social media and elsewhere" which he described as "really disheartening".

Mr Hulme added: "The picture is that this is a very, very serious situation for the NHS, the worst I've seen in my career by a long stretch, and we need to be honest about that."

A majority of acute trusts in London - 14 out of 23 - are currently recording patient levels higher than at the peak of the first wave.

The same is true for south-west England (11 out of 15) and the Midlands (16 out of 23).

The proportion is even higher in south-east England (15 out of 18) and eastern England (13 out of 14).

The total number of Covid-19 patients in all hospitals in England - including mental health and community trusts - currently stands at 28,246. This is 49% above the first wave peak of 18,974 on April 12.

All figures are based on the latest available data from NHS England.

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