There’s just currently one person in Lincolnshire’s hospitals with COVID-19 it’s been revealed.
While cases of the virus are rising, Mark Brassington the deputy chief executive of United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, this morning (June 24) told Lincolnshire County Council’s Health Scrutiny Board that these cases were largely in adults of working age.
There’s just one person in Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital and none in the other hospitals the trust covers including County Hospital in Lincoln, he told councillors.
Mr Brassington said: “It’s really good news that as things stand today we have the single COVID-19 patient.
“Obviously we look at the news and the rising cases we are seeing in the community and we hope the vaccination programme continues to break that link between cases and hospitalisations.”
The meeting heard that United Lincolnshire Hospital NHS Trust had treated over 3,000 patients with the disease.
At the peaks in the two lockdowns, ULHT had 104 patients in its hospital in April 2020 and peaked at 253 patients at one time in lockdown two, the meeting was told.
Despite having less COVID-19 patients Mr Brassington said that bed occupancy remained high and there were still 937 people who been waiting for operations over a year, down from a peak of over 2,000 waiting.
“We’re more down to normal for our expected levels but bed occupancies remain high.
“We and our partners have seen an extraordinary increase in demand and significantly more routine patients.”
On waiting lists he said: “We’re committed to getting that down to as close to zero as possible.”
