Hastings reports spike in Covid-19 deaths

Public Health England data shows 148 people in Hastings have died within 28 days of a positive test for Covid-19.

Public Health England also records the number of deaths which feature Covid-19 on the death certificate, rather than just those who have died within 28 days of a positive test.

The latest figures show 69 people have died and had Covid-19 put on their death certificate, including 27 in the past week,

Neighbouring Rother has reported another 9 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to Public Health England, which brings the total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic to 221. In Rother, 131 of these deaths had Covid-19 on the death certificate.

The whole of East Sussex has seen an increase in the number of Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, with Eastbourne recording eight in that time period.

The town has now recorded 130 deaths since the start of the pandemic, 99 of which relate to deaths with Covid-19 on the death certificate.

‘Huge pressure’ at hospitals

The new data comes just days after Conquest Hospital and Eastbourne District General Hospital revealed the ‘huge pressure’ they are under due to the Covid-19 pandemic as they urged residents to follow the national lockdown rules.

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust revealed that Conquest and DGH are now seeing around five times the number of Covid-19 positive inpatients compared to the height of the first wave in March and April. During December, the trust saw an eightfold increase in the number of positive Covid-19 patients.

The trust said approximately half of its beds are now occupied by patients with Covid-19.

As a result of this huge pressure, the trust has made some changes to the services it provides in order to make sure it can care for those who most need it.

ESHT has had to make a number of changes to make sure it can continue to provide care to those who most need it and to keep patients and staff safe:

– Since the beginning of the pandemic, the trust has increased critical care and overall bed capacity, for example it has converted surgical wards into medical wards to support more patients

– It has increased recruitment both temporary and permanent and invited people who have left the NHS to come back and take on important roles. Members of staff with clinical experience are putting on uniforms and non clinical members of staff are being redeployed to help support other core patient services

– The trust has rescheduled some routine operations – to allow the hospitals to focus on caring for Covid-19 patients, emergency care, cancer care and diagnostics

– It has also temporarily suspended home births and births at its midwife-led unit, because the trust said it cannot be assured about timely ambulance response times in an emergency. All births will now be at Conquest

– Where possible, the trust is moving outpatient services online and allowing for virtual or telephone appointments

– The trust has now opened two vaccination hubs at Conquest Hospital and Eastbourne DGH which are vaccinating frontline health and care staff across East Susses as part of a Sussex–wide vaccination programme