Covid-19: Northern Lincolnshire hospitals trust forced to declare major incident as patient numbers surge

A hospital trust in the Calendar region was forced to declare a major incident over the weekend as demand for oxygen surged amongst coronavirus patients.Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust also called in nursing staff to work extra shifts at its three sites.

Officials at the Trust say the situation at hospitals in Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Goole is now under control.

On Sunday morning, 106 Covid-positive patients were being treated in the Trust's three hospitals.

This included 56 at Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby, 47 at Scunthorpe General Hospital and three at Goole and District Hospital.There were six people in ICU in each of the Grimsby and Scunthorpe hospitals.Across the Trust last week, 140 staff members were unavailable to work. This includes 71 in Grimsby, 48 at Scunthorpe, six in Goole, and 15 'across the Trust'.

Over the weekend, hospital chiefs confirmed that the Trust had enacted its Major Incident Plan due to the demands on oxygen supplies. 

It came as patient numbers at the hospitals crossed the 100 threshold.On Saturday, the Trust reported another five deaths - two on Friday, and one each on the three preceding days.Case numbers in North East Lincolnshire's also soared past 3,000 as the borough battles a much tougher second wave than the first.