Can Royal London Hospital cope with Covid?

AS THE SECOND wave of COVID-19 sweeps the country, concerns have been raised over whether one of East London’s major hospitals is coping with COVID-19-related admissions.

On 29th December, the Barts Health NHS Trust announced that its hospitals were treating very high numbers of patients with COVID-19, and it was therefore moving to the “very high pressure” phase of its Winter Escalation Plan. The new phase led to an extra ward being opened for COVID-19 patients at the Royal London Hospital on 27th December. In addition, “all elective operations, many outpatient appointments, and some diagnostic tests” were being postponed, with many outpatient appointments being converted to telephone or video consultations. The Trust emphasised that its hospitals were still open to anyone genuinely needing emergency medical treatment.

The waters were then muddied on 1st January when ITV News reported that an email had been circulated to doctors claiming that the Royal London Hospital was in fact in “disaster mode” and was unable to provide “high standard critical care”.  However, the ITN headline and article did appear to be based on rather selective quoting. The full email, quoted at the bottom of the article, showed that although the situation is grim, the hospital is doing its best to make the best of the resources it has. Suggestions that the Trust is busy pulling the wool over the public’s eyes are probably misplaced.

The news comes out of the Barts Health NHS Trust a day after Public Health England (PHE) confirmed that London’s health service was grappling with some of the “highest levels of COVID-19 infection in the country” and “hospital admissions are rising.” PHE reminded the public to follow Tier 4 restrictions closely, spending most of their day at home. If people do have to go out – to work or for necessary shopping – PHE reminded them to wear a mask, keep their distance from others and wash their hands thoroughly when they return home.

The Barts Health NHS Trust has released updated figures on COVID-19 cases at the hospitals in the Trust (St Bartholomew’s Hospital, the Royal London Hospital, Whipps Cross Hospital, Mile End Hospital and Newham Hospital). The statement, posted on 30th December, advised that at 8am the situation would be:
•701 inpatients with laboratory confirmed COVID-19,
•89 of whom would have been diagnosed over the previous 24 hours,
•and 146 of whom would be being cared for in intensive care.
The Trust also revealed that up to 5pm on 30th December of the patients who had been treated in hospital, 978 had sadly died, while 6,145 had recovered and been discharged.

●See the text of the leaked email here:
Text of email leaked to ITN

●Read more about it:
Have public services survived COVID?
COVID-19: London doctors warn of second wave