Community infection rates for COVID-19 remain high and we have sadly seen a sharp increase in patients requiring COVID care at The James Cook University Hospital.
In the last ten days, the number of patients requiring COVID care has more than doubled to 93. This includes 14 patients receiving critical care.
As cases of coronavirus rise, our clinicians are flexing up the number of areas providing COVID care within the hospital while maintaining separate pathways to keep patients receiving non-COVID related care safe.
As part of our phased clinically-led response, from tomorrow (2 November) we will be pausing some non-urgent inpatient operations in order to continue safely increasing isolated ward areas providing care to COVID patients.
We expect this pause to continue through the week, and our teams will be re-scheduling appointments for patients affected.
Urgent and emergency cases will be carrying on as normal. Day case procedures and approximately 75 per cent of non-urgent inpatient operations will be unaffected by this pause. Paediatric services are also not affected.
The trust’s Friarage Hospital in Northallerton, which is currently a COVID-free inpatient site providing non-urgent surgical procedures, is also not affected at this time.
Our teams are pulling out all the stops but we cannot do this alone, which is why we’re appealing to people to follow the national guidance to help keep themselves and everyone else safe.
Our message to patients is if you are invited to come to one of our hospitals or community venues it is because our clinicians believe it is clinically necessary and important that you attend.
This has now been updated please see announcement COVID-19 – 4 November 2020 for more information.