Liverpool’s struggling hospitals are not likely to see a peak in Covid patients for another two to three weeks, the city’s public health director has warned.
Doctors in the city and across the region have reported increasing pressure in hospitals.
A consultant at the Royal tweeted on Wednesday that an “escalation bay” for Covid patients opened over the weekend was now full, while doctors at Whiston Hospital say they are treating more patients than in either of the two previous peaks.
The ECHO understands Alder Hey Children’s Hospital is preparing to potentially take adult patients if necessary to try to alleviate the some of the strain.
In a council meeting earlier this week, Liverpool’s director of public health, Matt Ashton, said it would likely be another two to three weeks before pressure on hospitals peaked.
Mr Ashton said pressure on hospitals would likely continue to ramp up into the end of this month and into February.
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He said: “During Wave One there was a peak of Covid beds at any one point of around 380 in our Liverpool hospitals.
“In Wave Two that peak was at around 490 at any one point. Right now, our Liverpool hospitals are at around 430 and I would anticipate the number of Covid beds increasing further over the next two weeks.
“I cannot say this with certainty but I think it is likely that the number of Covid beds will be greater than we experienced in Wave One and Wave Two.”
Mr Ashton said that hospitals had enough space and were planning for increases
He said: “The key issue of course is the care that is not given to other people when the hospitals are under that amount of pressure.
“There are also staffing pressures and potentially pressures around logistical issues like oxygen supply that mean there are likely to be significant pressures on our health and care services.”
Liverpool’s Covid rates have seen a five-fold increase in the past two weeks, with infection levels now around 1,000 per 100,000 people.
