Shropshire Star

Shropshire hospitals boss: 'People are becoming seriously unwell and people are continuing to die'

Read the latest column from Dr Arne Rose, medical director at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

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Dr Arne Rose

We are now almost a week into the second national lockdown in England, while across the border in Wales, their ‘firebreak’ has ended.

This lockdown already feels different to the first.

Then there was, understandably, an intense focus on coronavirus and dealing with the pandemic which had arrived on our doorstep.

Procedures at our hospitals stopped and our A&Es grew much less busy.

This time around we are dealing with a second wave of coronavirus while trying to maintain or restore as many services as possible.

Meanwhile our A&Es are back to seeing the same level of attendance as we did before the start of the pandemic, with the added complication of needing to implement social distancing and other measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

It is a trying time for our staff, and it is also a trying time for our patients.

I want to thank everybody at the Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal Hospitals for their unwavering commitment and I want to thank our patients for their understanding and their generosity as we continue to deal with a situation that none of us have ever faced before.

Coronavirus continues to take its toll around the world, around Britain and right here in Shropshire.

The number of people being treated at our hospitals for coronavirus continues to grow.

Respect

Sadly, last week, seven more people with coronavirus who were being treated at our hospitals died.

Coronavirus isn’t a hoax.

The measures that have been put in place are not an overreaction.

People are becoming seriously unwell and people are continuing to die.

We know there has been some promising news on the vaccine front, with reports that one of the vaccines in development could prevent 90 per cent of people from getting coronavirus.

However, we are still some way from seeing a vaccine in production and from seeing it available to the public, so I would again ask people to respect the restrictions that are in place so that we can again flatten the curve, bring the number of cases down and slow down the spread of this disease.

Look after yourselves, and look after each other.

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