Surge in number of Covid patients at Chesterfield Royal Hospital

There are now 62 Covid positive patients being cared for at Chesterfield – up from 46 at the start of the week.

Twelve of these patients are in intensive care.

The hospital is now on the brink of matching the numbers it saw at the peak of the virus back in April when it was caring for 75 patients with Covid – 17 of which were in intensive care.Angie Smithson, chief executive at Chesterfield Royal, said: “We are very concerned about the rising prevalence of Covid-19 in our communities, which will inevitably lead to a rise in admissions at our hospitals.

“There is no doubt that the situation in our hospitals is becoming more serious and with rising rates of Covid-19 our hospitals are starting to struggle.

“Right now we are seeing a continued increase in the number of patients with Covid-19 who require hospital treatment, including intensive care.

“This is affecting our ability to continue to conduct some non-urgent operations.

"We have to allocate extra beds in our hospital to look after patients who are acutely unwell – who need to be oxygenated or ventilated.

“Inevitably this means our capacity for elective surgery is less than it would ordinarily be.”

Overall, the number of Covid-19 patients being treated at Chesterfield Royal, Royal Derby Hospital and Queen’s Hospital in Burton is now 286 – a rise of 25 per cent since the start of the week.