250 people caught Covid in Shropshire's major hospitals in eight months
More than 250 people are believed to have caught Covid-19 at Shropshire’s two main hospitals over a period of eight months, new figures suggest.
Bosses at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, however, say steps were taken to reduce the spread of the virus as much as possible, and those who contracted Covid in hospital represented a small percentage of the overall cases in the county.
Analysis of NHS England data shows that, between August 1 and March 21, 252 people were thought to have been infected with Covid-19 at SaTH, while being treated in hospital for other conditions.
The highest number of such transmissions was recorded in January – with 79 people believed to have been infected at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital or Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital.
During the same period, the trust cared for 1,790 Covid-19 patients, meaning 14 per cent are thought to have contracted the disease in hospital – below the 15 per cent average for all Midland NHS acute trusts.
But SaTH, which has dealt with a number of Covid-19 outbreaks, says hospital-acquired cases were relatively low when compared to community cases.
Hayley Flavell, director responsible for infection prevention and control at SaTH, said: “Covid-19 is a highly transmissible respiratory virus which flourishes in indoor environments.
“The number of patients who have acquired Covid-19 in hospital is, thankfully, a small percentage of overall cases in Shropshire.
“The majority of these patients have been in areas where we have had an outbreak of Covid-19 and have been close contacts of positive cases.
'Difficult'
“We have taken a number of steps to reduce the spread of the virus as much as possible, including increased cleanliness checks and ensuring that patients wear face coverings when needed.
“Currently, we have just one outbreak still open and fewer than 10 Covid-positive patients in our hospitals.”
A Covid outbreak is defined as “two or more test-confirmed or clinically suspected cases of Covid-19 among individuals associated with a specific setting, where at least one case (if a patient) has been identified as having illness onset after eight days of admission to hospital”.
Across England, 40,670 people are thought to have been infected with Covid-19 in hospital since August – 15 per cent of all inpatients with the disease.
The British Medical Association says the NHS was already overstretched before the pandemic and warned bed capacity and staffing must be increased.
Rob Harwood, chairman of the BMA consultants committee, said: “The NHS went into the pandemic underfunded, understaffed and overstretched, and the knock-on effects has unfortunately meant that controlling the spread of Covid-19 within hospitals has been more difficult than necessary.”
