King's Lynn hospital reports big drop in coronavirus patients

The number of patients being treated for coronavirus at Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital has fallen by almost 70 per cent in recent weeks, bosses have revealed.

But, although some areas of the Gayton Road site are beginning to return to other work following the latest peak, managers say the current alert will remain in place for the time being.

And the human cost of the pandemic continues to rise, with three further deaths announced this afternoon, taking the total at the hospital since the start of the crisis to 456.

At the peak of the second wave of the virus last month, the QEH was caring for 220 patients with Covid-19.

But managers revealed this week that figure is now to 67, around 30 per cent of the peak.

Chief executive Caroline Shaw said: “This is a tremendous achievement compared to last month.

“According to the latest government advice we are still operating at a level 4 pandemic, which means that we must be cautious. However, there has been a sharp decline in acute cases and deaths.

“We have now converted one of our Covid emergency departments back into a day surgery and the staff are very happy to be getting back to clinical practice.

“Throughout the pandemic we have been doing cancer care, but the reduction in cases will improve patient flow for other clinics.”

Trust chairman, Professor Steve Barnett, said: “We are tremendously proud of the team effort of everyone here at the QEH, from those at the vaccine centre to the car park attendants who have stood out in the freezing cold.

“We talked about the unstinting efforts of the vaccination centre team since our vaccination programme was set up over the Christmas period.

“This was a huge team effort in which Claire Kent, Adrian Debney, Trudy Taylor, Nicola Burns and our team of volunteers and security staff with support from Evolve Guards Limited played a substantial role, as well as all of our fantastic and dedicated volunteer staff who we hope to see again soon.”

Mrs Shaw added: “We have learned a lot of lessons from Covid and hope to use those moving forward. Should cases increase we know we have the capacity to adapt and handle it. We hope to continue on with the lessons learned and implement a blended approach to patient care, with an emphasis on virtual appointments.

“These will be patient based and we certainly wouldn’t deny anyone in person care as our staff like to see patients in person too, however the use of virtual appointments would allow our clinicians to see more patients and for patients to attend from home where is more convenient for them.”