The beginning of April saw Covid hospitalisation cases in Oxfordshire exceed the January peak, but the South Central Ambulance Service and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust deny claims that ambulances are being turned away from A&E departments.
The number of confirmed Covid patients in hospitals under the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - which includes John Radcliffe, Churchill and Horton General - has reached a new peak.
146 people were reported to be suffering from Covid in the aforementioned group of hospitals on 1st April. A figure not seen in Oxfordshire since January 2021, when Covid hospitalisation rates across the UK reached their peak.
Before that, the greatest number of Covid patients in Oxfordshire over the last 11 months was in mid-January, when 122 people were reported to be in hospital with Covid on the 11th and 12th. This is around the same number as were in hospital in mid-April 2020, just one month after the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak to be a pandemic.
As April brings with it rises in Covid infections and hospitalisation cases across the UK, NHS staff are informing patients that A&E departments are very busy at present, and should they need medical attention for minor injuries, it is best to call NHS 111.
A recent BBC article discussing the increasing strain being experienced by the NHS claimed that some hospitals are: “So busy they are having to divert ambulances to other sites because they are unable to cope.
“Over the past week, 20 NHS A&E departments in England issued diverts, with patients taken elsewhere. Those A&E departments still taking new patients have seen long delays, with more than 25% of ambulances waiting at least 30 minutes to handover patients.”
The article goes on to specify Oxfordshire as one of the counties that is experiencing particularly severe problems.
However, Michelle Archer, Communications Manager for the South Central Ambulance Service, said: “Ambulances aren’t being turned away. You only have to check social media to see that the NHS is strained at the moment, but no we’re not being turned away.”
Further, Natalie Ellis, Communications Manager at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our hospitals are busy at the moment, especially our A&E departments – but we haven’t had to turn people away.
“We are working hard with our health and social care colleagues to alleviate these pressures. We are asking people to choose their healthcare services wisely – our Emergency Departments are very busy and if someone comes with something minor, they will be waiting a while as we treat people in order of clinical need.”
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