Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

If you work in a COVID HOSPITAL WARD - how busy are you?

68 replies

1person100names · 11/08/2020 15:48

I was just wondering really how busy COVID wards are in hospitals at the moment?

Where do you work?

I wonder whether hospitals in certain regions, e.g Greater Manchester are busier than others?

I also wonder whether you have noticed any changes with cases since March - i.e have symptoms been consistent, has the survival rate improved? Are you using any treatment now that you have noticed has made a big difference?

OP posts:
Northernsoullover · 11/08/2020 15:49

Following with interest. Where I live we get hardly any new cases. Its a big city too.

Mamabeemer · 11/08/2020 15:53

Not me but my best friend works in a London hospital and said (a week or so ago) that its been quiet for a long time now. I saw her once restrictions were lifted and she said it never reached the levels of busy ness that she thought it would with what we were being told about Italy.

summersolstice43 · 11/08/2020 15:58

I work in a hospital, not based on the Covid ward but things have gone a lot quieter recently. We are still seeing patients (and staff) testing positive for covid but nowhere near as many deaths and the symptoms don't seem to be as band now either. Hoping it doesn't spike again come flu season.

Original poster
1person100names · 11/08/2020 16:02

I know there has been a number of articles saying that the virus has NOT become less virulent but I am wondering whether we are still getting the same amount of hospital admissions as we did previously

I admit, I am aware of all the measures that have been put in place across the UK to prevent the transmission including social distancing, PPE etc however; I know from my job that the virus is still prevalent and there are still a large number of confirmed cases in certain hotspots in the UK- so I wonder whether these areas have higher hospital admissions?

I am happy to be proven wrong on this and I very much welcome any comments/ opinions etc! Clearly I am not an expert nor am I a scientist so I don't necessarily disagree with the experts saying the virus is less virulent, I just wonder how this is reflected in real life!

OP posts:
Original poster
1person100names · 11/08/2020 16:05

@summersolstice43

I work in a hospital, not based on the Covid ward but things have gone a lot quieter recently. We are still seeing patients (and staff) testing positive for covid but nowhere near as many deaths and the symptoms don't seem to be as band now either. Hoping it doesn't spike again come flu season.
Another thing I am very intrigued about .. without disclosing too much information I am noticing that the confirmed cases that I am dealing with as a CT appear to have mild symptoms (i.e hardly noticeable and would have gone in to work if they had not taken a test and was aware to self isolate)

Anyone else have any comments in regards to this? Do you know anyone within the last few weeks who have had severe cases?

OP posts:
Noextremes2017 · 11/08/2020 16:38

The Government publishes statistics for now many Covid patients are on mechanical ventilators across all UK hospitals. The total number is about 60.
To put that in context there are about 1000 people currently in UK hospitals on mechanical ventilation for all kinds of non-Covid illnesses. So Covid is currently a very small number.
And we have 30,000 ventilators now so 29,000 must be in storage.

username58 · 11/08/2020 16:43

I'm a nurse in intensive care, we've had no covid admissions for a good two months or so now. Was talking to the consultant last night who says that she's hoping flu season isn't as bad as normal due to people practicing social distancing etc so fingers crossed.

Noextremes2017 · 11/08/2020 16:48

And presumably - if the Government/NHS are thinking straight - they will offer flu vaccine to many more people??

summersolstice43 · 11/08/2020 16:50

@16:051person100names I've heard and seen the same, very little, if any symptoms. Might be a weaker strain now due to people social distancing and hand washing etc. I think flu season will be strange this year, we normally follow Australia but they've had very few this year.

Gladio · 11/08/2020 16:50

With regard to the numbers that went in to hospital with COVID. My friend called an ambulance for her husband twice, but they wouldn't take him in because his lips weren't turning blue. Another friend is a paramedic and confirmed that (under instruction) he left many people with COVID at home that they would normally have taken in to hospital. I think it's likely we did need the nightingale hospitals, but they weren't used due to the policy of leaving most people at home unless they were going blue from lack of oxygen.

It is good to hear numbers are low at the moment.

Jrobhatch29 · 11/08/2020 17:06

@Gladio

With regard to the numbers that went in to hospital with COVID. My friend called an ambulance for her husband twice, but they wouldn't take him in because his lips weren't turning blue. Another friend is a paramedic and confirmed that (under instruction) he left many people with COVID at home that they would normally have taken in to hospital. I think it's likely we did need the nightingale hospitals, but they weren't used due to the policy of leaving most people at home unless they were going blue from lack of oxygen.

It is good to hear numbers are low at the moment.

See my friend is a paramedic too and I actually asked him about this when everyone on MN was saying ambulances wouldn't take people. He said they took everyone unless they were absolutely sure they were fine. Perhaps it depends where you live
Frazzled2207 · 11/08/2020 17:11

I watch the daily statistics on the government website and despite increasing in cases recently hospital admissions continues to go down. Hospital deaths is now single figures most days.

There’s talk of it currently affecting younger adults hence less issues with older people but I do wonder if it’s merging into something less serious.

KitKatastrophe · 11/08/2020 17:16

I am wondering whether we are still getting the same amount of hospital admissions as we did previously
The short answer is no we arent. Here is a graph showing hospital admissions.

If you work in a COVID HOSPITAL WARD - how busy are you?
Springersrock · 11/08/2020 17:17

See my friend is a paramedic too and I actually asked him about this when everyone on MN was saying ambulances wouldn't take people. He said they took everyone unless they were absolutely sure they were fine. Perhaps it depends where you live

Same here. One of my neighbours is and another close friend are both paramedics. I asked them when I kept seeing blue lips mentioned on here and both said that was absolutely not the case and blue lips were never part of the decision making. Perhaps it depends on your area

I fell badly a few weeks ago, I left it as I was assuming the hospital was busy and I could deal with it myself. 2 weeks later it’s extremely painful and massively swollen still so I took myself to the urgent care unit. The nurse told me off for not coming sooner, and told me the hospital had never been that busy, the normal ICU ward they’d sectioned off for Covid had never been full, let alone the extra wards they built

We’ve had 4 positive cases in the last month

10storeylovesong · 11/08/2020 17:22

During the peak, a friend of mine called an ambulance for her elderly aunt who had all the covid symptoms. The paramedics told her that she had a urine infection and left her at home. She ended up in hospital a few days later, tested positive for covid and died shortly after.

With regards to symptoms, 4 of my work colleagues have tested positive since the weekend. They caught it from a woman with very mild symptoms who thought it was her asthma and only tested because she wanted to be safe. The other 3 are asymptomatic and would never have tested had they not been told to.

Kitcat122 · 11/08/2020 19:05

I think with regards to the paramedic query. I had Covid and suffered (still am a little) from shortness of breath. There were a few days at the beginning when I had difficulty breathing just sitting still and it's very frightening. I very nearly panicked a few times so I can image ambulances were called when people were definitely struggling but maybe not quite needing hospital.

PJ6M · 11/08/2020 19:12

blue lips were never part of the decision making. Perhaps it depends on your area

Or perhaps the people on this forum who were saying that are simply liars?

Kitcat122 · 11/08/2020 19:30

It said it on the 111 website I think. Don't quote me 😜

TheWayOfTheWorld · 11/08/2020 19:57

Last Covid patient left DH's ICU a few weeks ago - no admissions since then.

Keepdistance · 11/08/2020 21:11

Maybe it's like a chain
Person 1 doesnt get that ill as small dose thousands of people later it's everywhere and everyone gets big dose they then get very ill which of course means they are coughing and shedding more. They end up in hospital have to be intubated have to see drs and paramedics. Everyone gets very ill.
Now with lower shedding and summer when you get less ill, fewer other respiratory infections and more vit d.

piemin · 11/08/2020 21:39

I work in a London hospital. Almost all inpatients had COVID by early April, then after lockdown things slowly tailed off and we've gone from hundreds of COVID patients to one or two at most in the whole hospital.

Approx a quarter of all staff have had COVID according to antibody testing, if that's reflected in the general London population then that must be slowing transmission now. That and awareness of symptoms, track and trace and availability of testing which was nonexistent in April unless you were admitted to hospital almost at deaths door.

ProfessorPootle · 11/08/2020 21:57

My sister works in a hospital in SW London where the Covid wards have all been closed now, last case left quite a few weeks ago. At the peak (round here was March before lockdown and into April) they had a lot of cases, ITU was full plus a couple of extra wards which were just for Covid, maternity Covid ward etc. Now though any new cases from round here are being taken to another hospital as the designated Covid hub for the area while her hospital is trying to catch up with all the operations/clinics that were delayed.

LordOftheRingz · 11/08/2020 22:01

So we have flattened the curve and protected the NHS, the ventilators are unused the nightingale hospitals are decommissioned, but we are still all being told what to do because the goal posts are not now what we were sold.

itsgettingweird · 11/08/2020 22:09

@Kitcat122

I think with regards to the paramedic query. I had Covid and suffered (still am a little) from shortness of breath. There were a few days at the beginning when I had difficulty breathing just sitting still and it's very frightening. I very nearly panicked a few times so I can image ambulances were called when people were definitely struggling but maybe not quite needing hospital.
Exactly the same as I was.

Luckily my heart stopped racing and my breathing eased because I couldn't even get 111 to answer the phone.

My sats were 92%

Noextremes2017 · 11/08/2020 22:44

@LordOftheRingz

Pretty much spot on. Except we the taxpayers are still paying to keep empty Nightingale hospitals in a state of readiness.

Johnson has completely lost the plot - if he ever understood it in the first place.