Hospitals in Greater Manchester have paused non-urgent surgery and outpatient appointments due to the rising impact of Covid on patients and staff.
A statement by Greater Manchester Combined Authority said the temporary measure, affecting 17 hospitals from Tuesday, will not apply to cancer and urgent care, including cardiac surgery, vascular surgery and transplantation.
About 15% of staff across the region are off sick or isolating with Covid, while in some hospitals more than one in five patients have the virus.
Diagnostic services, including endoscopy, and the majority of outpatient services will continue “wherever possible”.
The statement reads: “Staff have worked tirelessly to try to maintain services and deliver the highest quality of healthcare to local people.
“But Covid admissions are rising sharply (from 126 on 19 December to 359 on 2 January), as are inpatient diagnoses (193 to 738 for the same period), and in some hospitals more than one in five patients have Covid (though this is not translating into critical care pressure at present).
“However, the main reason is the high and rising level of staff absence, with around 15% off, either ill with Covid or isolating.
“There are also outbreaks in an increasing number of care homes, which is affecting how people are discharged from hospital.
“The bed modelling suggests these challenges may get worse, not better, in the next week or two.”
The hospitals affected include Royal Bolton hospital, Trafford general hospital, Wythenshawe hospital and Macclesfield district general hospital.
Patients who are not contacted should assume their treatment is continuing as planned, the statement added.
Fiona Noden, chief executive of Bolton NHS foundation trust, co-chair of Greater Manchester hospital gold command and lead for elective care in the region, said: “This has been a very difficult decision and not one that we have taken lightly, but we’ve done it so we can keep people safe, can maintain the very best infection control measures, can make sure we deploy staff to where they’re needed most and can keep looking after people who need urgent and emergency care, including cancer treatment.”
