Northamptonshire hospitals' plea as NHS confirms 60 coronavirus deaths in two weeks

NHS England has confirmed 60 deaths among coronavirus patients recorded by Northamptonshire hosptials trusts in the last two weeks.

Today's bulletin showed five more deaths on Saturday at Kettering General Hospital taking the total there to 30 in the previous 14 days.

Northampton General Hospital has also seen 30 deaths during the same period.

All those who died had either tested positive for Covid-19 within the previous 28 days or had the virus mentioned on a death certificate.

The sad news comes as hospital chiefs admit they are struggling to cope with the number of coronavirus patients needing treatment alongside the regular winter surge in sickness while battling to fill gaps left by staff being absent either due to positive tests of needing to self-isolate.

Northampton General Hospital chief executive, Deborah Needham, said last week: “Winter pressures and the high number of patients who have become seriously ill with Covid-19 during the second wave of this pandemic mean we are facing extremely high demand for inpatient services across both Northamptonshire hospitals.

"We are operating with most of our beds full and are currently caring for more than 240 Covid-positive patients at both sites.

"To help ease the pressure on our 1,140-plus beds we are asking relatives and carers to do everything they can to help us get their loved ones back home. This means being ready to collect them from our hospital as soon as possible after our doctors have declared them medically well enough to be discharged."

KGH chief executive Eileen Doyle added: "Both hospitals are struggling significantly for capacity and have done all week. We have plans in place to manage this but it's a challenge."

Northamptonshire has seen a rise in the number of positive Covid-19 tests with labs yesterday confirming 200-plus new cases in a 24-hour period for the first time since November 22.

Covid-19 has now been linked to 397 deaths at Northampton hospital and 283 in Kettering since the virus first hit the county in March — 149 of those patients have died since the beginning of October.

A further 180 coronavirus-related deaths in county care homes have also been notified by the Care Quality Commission up to December 4.