Royal Cornwall Hospital boss would like Covid deniers to meet the families of those who have died

Dr Allister Grant, the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust's medical director, says he would love to take Covid deniers to its intensive care unit. Credit: Cornwall Live / BPM Media

The medical director of the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro has said he would like Covid-19 deniers to meet the relatives of those who have died from the virus.

Dr Allister Grant says the hospital has a rising number of admissions of patients with the virus.

“At the moment we’re still seeing significant numbers of patients coming in to the hospital with Covid. We’ve got twice as many patients in the hospital as we did in the peak of our last wave. Unfortunately, we still have patients who are dying because of Covid.”

Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust (RCHT) has seen 120 Covid-related deaths in its hospitals, while the Cornwall Partnership Foundation Trust has seen 21 deaths in its community hospitals.

The intensive care unit usually has 15 beds but has expanded to 30 beds to cope with the pressures of coronavirus. There are currently a little more than 20 patients on ICU with the virus.

There are currently just over 20 patients with Covid-19 being cared for at the Royal Cornwall Hospital's intensive care unit. Credit: ITV West Country

There have been cases of covid deniers secretly filming in hospitals, citing empty corridors as evidence that Covid is a hoax, including at Treliske.

Dr Grant said: "I would love to take covid deniers to our Intensive Care Unit and show them how hard the staff are working, and to the relatives and friends of people who have died and just make them understand how important it is to follow the rules.

Dr Grant explained why the hospital might seem less busy than usual. He said: “There may well be less traffic on our corridors in our hospitals and that’s because we’ve moved lots of our outpatients into virtual outpatients and tele-conferencing.

"We don’t want staff wandering around the hospital because that’s a way that Covid can move around."


Read more: