Chesterfield Royal Hospital issues update on coronavirus situation ahead of second national lockdown

There are currently 47 patients in the hospital with coronavirus and 13 in intensive care.

But the hospital says it is not ‘simply providing a Covid service’, and around 350 other patients are also receiving urgent care on its wards.

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Hundreds of other people will attend for important appointments despite the national lockdown revealed by Boris Johnson at the weekend.

The trust which runs the Calow hospital is also reminding residents that its services ‘are still open and here to help’.

The safely measures we have in place are enabling us to provide both urgent and routine services.

"We have robust Covid-19 and non-Covid care pathways in place for patients (red and green) all designed to protect people and reduce infection spread risk,” a spokesperson for Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said.

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"We’ll keep you safe - so please remember that it’s vital you seek help if you need life-threatening and urgent care, as well as attending booked appointments.”

The hospital says it is important people continue to attend face-to-face appointments if advised to.

“It’s vital you come for these (unless you have COVID-19 symptoms) including X-rays, scans, cancer screenings and any other diagnostic tests and investigations,” the spokesperson added.

“Some surgeries are temporarily paused, but this week we’re doing some fast-track estates works to move our post-operative surgical unit into another area of the hospital.

"This will help us to respond to our current situation. From next week (November 9) it means we’ll have 10 beds dedicated to elective in-patient surgery (we’ve already been doing a limited number of day case operations anyway).

"It means we can continue service restoration and make sure that other urgent operations go ahead as planned.”

With less room in hospital waiting areas, patients are being told to attend appointments on their own – and may even be asked to wait in their car until they are called in.

The spokesperson added: “Thank you for all the messages of goodwill and support you’ve posted over the past couple of weeks. We really appreciate them.”

In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a subscription or buying a paper. We stand together. Nancy Fielder, editor.