Hartlepool health trust warns 'we're not out of the woods yet' as dozens of Covid patients still being treated

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust says it is currently treating about 80 patients with coronavirus which is down from a peak of more than 200 in January.

Its warning comes after the Government revealed its plans this week for the country coming out of lockdown with the announcement of a number of dates between March 8 and June 21.

But the hospital trust says it is still under pressure because of the virus and is calling on people to continue to follow the guidelines.

Chief nurse Lindsey Robertson said: “The Government announcement is good news.

“But it has been a very challenging time and continues to be so – we are not out of the woods yet and still have lots of patients in hospital with Covid-19.

“The pressure is still there, we still have very ill patients in critical care. We must continue to practice good hand hygiene, wear a facemask in public and accept a vaccination appointment when offered.”

Related story: North Tees and Hartlepool trust among hardest hit for Covid admissions

The hospital trust says it plans to restart elective surgery, but the suspension of visitors remains in place for now.

Lindsey added: “At this point it is too early to allow visitors back into the hospital buildings – but we want to do so as soon as we can.

“We know how hard it is for people not to be able to visit relatives and loved ones. We want to assess at each stage what impact these changes will have and we are looking at the situation very closely.

“We also need to now focus on returning our elective surgery programme, it’s a fine balance.

“The message is to be cautious, it’s really important we remain full of hope – the vaccine is our biggest avenue out of this.”

New health and wellbeing Rainbow Rooms have been created at the University Hospital of North Tees and University Hospital of Hartlepool from funds raised by Captain Tom Moore to support hard-worked staff.

Advice and support for staff is also being provided from the trust’s own specialists as well as those from Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust.

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