High Covid cases 'putting pressure on already stretched NHS services', say Greater Manchester health chiefs

Greater Manchester has seen a reduction in Covid hospital admissions, Covid NHS staff absences and the spread of the infection within hospitals, but the high case rates are still 'putting pressure on already stretched NHS services', say Greater Manchester health chiefs. Meanwhile, the system is trying to catch up with the huge backlog of operations which have been delayed during the peak of the pandemic.

Last month, nearly 1,000 patients with Covid-19 were being treated on Greater Manchester hospital wards, while the region's emergency departments 'struggled to assess' the high numbers of patients arriving with serious conditions. There were 971 beds occupied by patients with a confirmed case of Covid across seven NHS hospital trusts serving Greater Manchester as of April 5, according to NHS figures. That was up from 827 the previous week and 638 seven days before that, although it was still below the 1,289 recorded on January 11, around the time numbers peaked nationally.

Now those figures have fallen, with 628 beds overall currently occupied by Covid patients as of Friday (May 6). There are 21 Covid patients in intensive care and high dependency unit beds, according to the latest figures provided by the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership.

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Around the same time last month, the number of Covid-related staff absences across all seven trusts hit 1,987 on April 3, up from 1,853 a week earlier and 1,443 a fortnight previously. And while 'Covid staff absences have decreased during the past month', high virus rates in Greater Manchester communities and the numbers in hospital with the disease, are applying