Hospital trust gears up for surge in coronavirus cases in Lincolnshire

United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust CEO Andrew Morgan said: “I have been in the NHS for 38 years and this is undoubtedly, in my carer, the biggest challenge I have ever faced and when you talk to some of our national leaders, going back to when the NHS formed, this is undoubtedly the biggest challenge that the NHS has ever had to deal with.”

However Mr Morgan said teams were preparing well for the expected surge over coming weeks, commending his staff for their “fantastic work” so far.

With ongoing concerns from some professionals about a shortage of protective clothing and visors for NHS and care staff, he admitted there had been some supply issues but he had checked this week and there were now “quite good” levels of supply.

He added: “We do use stuff quite a lot so it runs out quite quickly but I would say the supply position has improved dramatically even over the last few days.”

They were also expecting to get enough ventilators through a national procurement programme.

Unlike major cities that have been preparing to open makeshift hospitals housing thousands of beds and ventilator machines, such as the Excel Centre in London becoming NHS Nightingale Hospital, Mr Morgan said in Lincolnshuire their plans have centred around making as many beds in intensive care and general wards available as possible for expected coronavirus patients.

He said: “We undoubtedly will have to use more of our bed base for virus patients and that is already starting. Our staff are being really helpful about redeployment and moving around and I think over the next few weeks we will see that surge start to kick in across all our sites.”

He said recently retired staff were coming in to cover gaps caused by staff self-isolating

Mr Morgan said the Trust was looking to more than quadruple its intensive care capacity, with about 70 per cent of total bed stock - equating several hundred beds - being taken up by virus patients eventually. The aim is to increase the number of intensive care beds up from 15-20 up to 80.

“That is why we have been taking action lately to cancel routine surgery and getting the medically fit out of hospital and into the community to really get ready,” he said.

Although accepting that Lincolnshire was better placed for people to keep their distance and isolate due to its rural nature, Mr Morgan warned against people becoming complacent. He said people of the county had largely responded well to washing hands, staying at home and socially distancing and had shown their support for NHS staff.

“I think the Clap for carers last week was a really fantastic sign of how they want to support us, but I would just want them to carry on supporting us by taking all the national advice and not being complacent and not thinking that it will happen to somebody else. It could happen to them and, kindly though we are, we don’t want them in our hospitals.”