COVID-19 patients: ‘small but steady’ rise at Guy’s & St Thomas'
The boss of Guy's and St Thomas' says that the trust has seen a "small but steady increase" in the number of COVID-19 patients during October.
"Throughout July, August and September the trust saw a significant reduction in the number of COVID-19 patients, however since 1 October 2020 the trust has started to see a small but steady increase in the number of COVID -19 patients requiring admission," wrote Dr Ian Abbs in his report to this week's Guy's and St Thomas' board meeting.
"As at 22 October, Guy's and St Thomas' currently has 11 confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted to critical care and 12 confirmed COVID -19 patients admitted across our general and acute wards."
In the past fortnight three deaths of COVID-19 patients at Guy's and St Thomas' have been reported by NHS England, compared with two in the whole of September and just one death in August.
Dr Abbs said that the hospitals have a "robust winter preparedness plan and a comprehensive COVID-19 second wave plan to ensure arrangements are in place to support both seasonal pressures and further peaks in COVID-19 activity".
Since the start of the pandemic SE1's hospitals have admitted around 1,800 patients who had been diagnosed with COVID-19, and of these patients just over 350 were admitted into critical care units.
Dr Abbs said that Guy's and St Thomas' has "adequate and secure supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE), and all the essential equipment and consumables we need to respond to a COVD -19 second wave".
