Covid has 'never been so bad' as 900 staff off and Covid patients rising in Somerset hospital

• Watch Richard Payne's report

The number of patients with covid in Somerset's biggest hospital is higher now than at the peak of the pandemic, ITV News has learnt.

Musgrove Park in Taunton has around 140 people with the virus, almost 50 per cent more than two years ago. 

It's a similar scenario at hospitals across our region as managers face high numbers being admitted and thousands of staff off sick or isolating.

Growing numbers of patients are filling up Musgrove Park's Emergency Department to such an extent they're running out of room.

Dr James Gagg, Clinical Director for Urgent & Emergency Care said: "We're now seeing the highest occupancy of our department we've ever seen. There are some days when we have three times as many patients in our emergency department than we had two years ago. The knock-on effect of that is that ambulances are now at times unable to unload  into our emergency department and the real problem there is that they can't get to their next emergency necessarily."

"We're continually looking at ways we can manage that (capacity) and this isn't just a local problem. This has been occurring across the whole of the South West and indeed across England. It's almost that Somerset is catching up with the challenges other areas have been meeting but this is unprecedented for Somerset."

We highlighted Musgrove's pressures last year when more patients had worse Covid-19 symptoms but the volumes were lower. Now, there are so many, they're blocking some of the 600 beds here, medically fit to be discharged but unable to cope alone and without a care home to take them.

It's hitting staff, too. Some 900 of the 12,000 who work across a Trust, which includes Yeovil District Hospital, are off work with the virus.

Matron Karen Tyler has just finished another 12-hour shift, supporting colleagues taking on the duties others are too sick to perform.

Karen said: "I think there are days when people think 'another day what's it going to look like, how many patients are we going to be looking after in a non-clinical area.

"I think it's emergency medicine we came in knowing it was going to be busy. We just need to maintain a strong team and keep patients safe and I think that's what we all do."  

Strict infection controls remain, as do restrictions on visitors. Some patients are still turning to the emergency department when they needn't, putting further demands on an already stretched service. For less urgent care, waiting times can be very long. 

Inside Musgrove's critical care unit, there's an admission the efficient running of the hospital and the wider trust is facing its greatest challenge and that means some hard decisions.

Dr Daniel Meron, Chief Medical Officer at Musgrove Park said: "We have always said that once this pandemic moves on we will turn all of our attention to doing all those operations and procedures that we haven't been able to do during the pandemic and I apologise to those people in Somerset who are waiting at home and have had their operations delayed or cancelled. We are only doing that because we have no other choice at the moment. This is a temporary measure to get us through this difficult period."

With such high levels of transmission in the communities they serve, it's little surprise the numbers are rising in this and other hospitals, too. 

And many expect, whatever the levels of loyalty and expertise, demanding workloads will be the reality for months to come.