No patients turned away from A&E due to coronavirus workload
The accident and emergency departments of Ipswich and Colchester hospitals have not had to turn away patients, despite rising coronavirus infections. Stock image - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images
Despite full intensive care units at Ipswich and Colchester hospitals, no patients have been turned away from the Accident and Emergency Department because of Covid-19.
Nick Hulme, chief executive of the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT), pleaded with people to stay home over the first weekend of lockdown.
He tweeted on Saturday, January 9, saying: "Please stay at home this weekend.
"Please don’t underestimate the pressure on the whole of the NHS. You can help by simply doing nothing.
"Go out for some exercise but then please just go home and stay there! If you break the rules you’re putting lives at risk."
Nick Hulme, chief executive of the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, confirmed intensive care units are full at both hospitals - Credit: Archant
This was just over a week after he confirmed intensive care units at Ipswich and Colchester hospitals were both full, amid soaring coronavirus infection rates.
The trust has since reassured patients that they should use A&E if necessary and said: "We are here to care for everyone.
You may also want to watch:
"If you have an urgent need for care please do attend our emergency department. NHS 111 colleagues are here to help you get the right care at the right time.
"No-one has been turned away from our emergency departments because of Covid-19."
Most Read
- 1 Burglar who targeted aunt's home while she was at her son's funeral is jailed
- 2 First phase of new 2,000 home site approved
- 3 Group fined for travelling more than 10 miles to get a takeaway in lockdown
- 4 New bid for supermarket on Anglia Retail Park could be submitted
- 5 Danger warning after seal pup rescued from fishing net by member of public
- 6 Pensioner 'could not help himself' viewing indecent images of children
- 7 Former Ipswich nightclub to become Network Rail base
- 8 Tributes are paid to 'inspirational' teacher Gaynor Jacobs
- 9 £40,000 of cash and large amount of cocaine seized in Ipswich
- 10 Global property firm acquires huge new Suffolk logistics site
Mr Hulme said as of Friday, 430 patients with coronavirus are being treated at both sites, however he is confident doctors and nurses have better supplies of PPE to deal with it than during the last peak.
Colchester hospital has been in use as a hub for coronavirus vaccinations recently - Credit: Archant
The coronavirus alert level for the UK has been raised from four to five, which means the NHS is at risk of being overwhelmed.
In a joint statement issued on January 4, the UK Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) said: "Cases are rising almost everywhere, in much of the country driven by the new more transmissible variant.
"We are not confident that the NHS can handle a further sustained rise in cases and without further action there is a material risk of the NHS in several areas being overwhelmed over the next 21 days."
Ipswich Hospital has now gone live as a vaccination hub, alongside West Suffolk Hospital - Credit: Sarah Lucy Brown
