Operations cancelled to prepare for rise in hospital covid cases

Tuesday 08 December 2020

Some non-urgent operations are to be cancelled to free up health staff to deal with a possible rise in the number of covid cases in the hospital.

There are currently 23 individuals in hospital with covid - but only three were admitted specifically due to the virus.

The rise in cases - a trend expected to continue - comes alongside increasing numbers of hospital staff either having to isolate due to testing positive or being deemed direct contacts. 

The Health Minister said the health service was therefore “adjusting to cope” with the challenge.

As well as enhanced infection control procedures, he said that the decision had been taken to “reduce the number of elective surgery beds for non-urgent procedures.”

“This will allow us to redirect some of our staff to deal with any escalation in covid-19 cases,” he explained. 

Deputy Renouf reminded islanders, however, that they should still attend planned procedures and outpatient appointments, but noted they should arrive alone and “no earlier than 10 minutes” in advance.

Turning to those currently in hospital with the virus, he explained: “They are in wards with enhanced infection protection measures in place, including daily deep cleans, minimal staff movement and staff wearing full PPE.

“This means that, at present, we currently have two covid positive patients being cared for in the Intensive Treatment Unit. Therefore, we do not need to open the Nightingale Wing. We are, of course, continually monitoring the situation and the Nightingale Wing is available, at short notice, should it be required.” 

Pictured: The Nightingale Wing, which will open if the hospital doesn't have any spare capacity to deal with individuals needing high-flow oxygen treatment.

Asked by Express about what would have to happen to trigger the opening of the Nightingale at a press conference last night, the Health Minister said the decision would ultimately be left to clinicians.

Deputy Medical Officer for Health, Dr Ivan Muscat, explained that it was “a question of how many patients we can sustain on high-flow oxygen in the hospital, bearing in mind that other people will also require oxygen.” 

“There’ll come a point depending on how much oxygen usage there is that the Nightingale would have to open in order to cater for that number,” he said. “The number of patients who will require that type of support won’t suddenly appear overnight. There’ll be a gradual increase to get to that number so there’ll be sufficient warning for us to know that the nightingale is getting closer.”

Dr Muscat said that, as it stands, the General Hospital is currently able to sustain 10 to 20 people on high-flow oxygen.

Pictured: The General Hospital has capacity to give 10 to 20 individuals high-flow oxygen treatment.

“That is a specific form of treatment for very sick covid patients - they would be, if you like, the tip of an iceberg of other covid patients, so not all covid patients require that type of treatment only a relative minority.”

The Health Minister also noted that consideration will have to be given to how the Nightingale is staffed if it opens, given the pressures the health service is currently facing due to isolating workers. 

“We have to consider that when we move, if we move to the Nightingale, we will need to staff it with staff from the General Hospital and our staff, like any part of the population, are under pressure because some are isolating, some are direct contacts. That doesn’t stop us opening the Nightingale - because we will if that’s needed and the clinicians decide - but it is a pressure that I want islanders to be aware of and one of the reasons we should continue to keep to the rules and the guidance.”