Quarter of Hartlepool hospital trust beds are still occupied by Covid patients

The figure was announced as more walk-in vaccination clinics were confirmed for Hartlepool.

Julie Gillon, chief executive of the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, said covid-19 was “continuing to dominate” the way the trust operated its services along with planning for the future.

Ms Gillon provided an update for the latest meeting of the board of governors at the trust in which she said: “We are seeing a downward trend in community prevalence of the disease, as a result of which we will eventually see a reduction in the number of occupied beds in our organisation.

“But as we speak today nearly a quarter of our beds are taken up with the virus.”

As of Thursday, January 27, she said there were 105 covid positive patients being cared for by the trust and five in intensive care, of which four were on mechanical ventilation, meaning they could not breathe without support.

She said: “We have seen a gradual increase in our intensive care occupancy with covid positive patients.

“There has however been a plateauing of patients occupying acute beds.”

The chief executive said there was a continuing need to concentrate on infection control in its hospitals with regards to the virus.

Government figures show there were 2,590 new reported cases of covid-19 in Stockton in the last seven days and 1,069 in Hartlepool.

This equates to infection rates per 100,000 population of 1.311 and 1.139 with both boroughs having recently fallen out of the top 10 local authority areas in the UK with the highest level of infections.

Hartlepool patients with coronavirus are treated for the illness at the trust’s University Hospital of North Tees.

Two walk-in vaccine jab and booster clinics, meanwhile, have been confirmed for Hartlepool.

The first takes place on Saturday, January 29, at the Mill House Leisure Centre and offers first, second and booster jabs for people aged 12 and upwards from 10am-4pm.

The second is on Tuesday, February 1, at the Victoria Road Medical Centre, in Hartlepool, from 2.30pm–7pm.

This is offering first and second doses for people aged 12 and over and boosters for people aged 16 and over.