Pressure on critical care beds for seriously ill Covid-19 patients is said to be decreasing at a Nottingham hospital.
A picture shared by a consultant this week, shows a whiteboard where beds are usually marked out with their patients, as being empty.
Posted to Twitter on Wednesday evening (March 26) the poignant image was simply captioned, "Covid ICU QMC".
Nottingham University Hospitals Trust (NUH) has since confirmed the picture was taken at Queen's Medical Centre at one of five critical care surge areas that were used across the Trust to help cope with the increased pandemic capacity.
While it may not remain empty for long, the Trust has described it as "a positive step forward".
It has emphasised the message that while Covid-19 patient numbers are falling, there are still many critically ill patients across Nottingham hospitals.
A spokesperson for Nottingham University Hospitals Trust said: “As the numbers of Covid-19 positive patients continue to fall nationally, pressure on critical care beds has also decreased. This has allowed us to reduce the number of critical care beds we need to care for Covid patients.
“While this is a positive step forward, we still have a significant number of critically ill Covid patients at both of our hospitals and we are still seeing patients come into hospital on a daily basis who need treatment for Covid-19.
“Therefore, it vital that everyone continues to adhere to the Government guidance of Hands, Face, Space, and receive their vaccine when they are invited.
“Balancing ongoing demands will continue to be challenging for our Critical Care Units and our teams remain committed to providing the highest possible standards of care for all of our patients.”
In the latest figures for the number of hospitalisations at NUH, correct as of March 25, there were five new Covid-19 patients admitted (reported March 21).
As of March 23 there were 128 Covid-19 patients in total currently in hospital, with 14 requiring ventilation.
