A hospital trust boss has given a further indication of the serious pressure facing NHS urgent and emergency care services.
Rob Harrison, the managing director at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said attendances in this area were up by 20 per cent in recent months compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Mr Harrison was asked at a trust board of directors meeting whether demand would drop, but said in his experience it was likely to remain the same in the longer-term.
In April just under 69 per cent of patients entering A&E at South Tees were seen and discharged within the Government’s four hour standard wait, against a target of 95%.
However a trust report said emergency care performance was “generally in line” with the regional and national position, reflecting the challenges faced in recovering from the covid-19 outbreak.
Chief operating officer Sam Peate said emergency care continued to be a significant area of focus for the trust.
On Covid-19, he said it “continued to be prevalent within the organisation and we have seen an increase over the course of the last two weeks with regards to the number of inpatients we have got on site”.
Mr Peate also revealed that more than 95 per cent of inpatient beds were occupied at the James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, on most days.
Meanwhile, continued high activity levels were being seen at the urgent treatment centre at the Redcar Primary Care Hospital, which at the weekend had three hour average waits for those attending.
Speaking in more depth about covid-19, Mr Harrison said the so-called BA.4 and BA.5 variants of omicron were “significantly increasing” case numbers in the community and confirmed there had been a rise in hospital admissions, although this was not translating to a rise in severe illness and deaths due to protection offered by vaccines.
However there were additional pressures on the trust due to the continuing need to isolate covid-positive hospital patients.
The trust is currently advising members of the public visiting its hospitals and healthcare sites to wear a face covering if they are visiting high risk areas, such as A&E, urgent treatment centres, critical care, wards 4,13 and 33 at James Cook, the chemotherapy day unit and the Friarage dialysis unit, or a patient who is immunocompromised or has suspected or confirmed covid-19.
A spokeswoman repeated previous advice about the virus.
She said: “Get fully vaccinated if you haven’t already.
“Let fresh air in if you meet other people indoors.
“Keep things clean: wash your hands, cover your mouth or nose when you cough or sneeze and clean around you often.
“Consider wearing a mask when you are close to someone who is at high risk of getting ill, when lots of people have covid-19, or another infection like flu, and you are close to other people.
“Stay at home and away from other people if you have symptoms of an infection like covid-19 and you have a high temperature, feel very hot and feel unwell.”
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