Covid-19: Reading hospital suspends non-urgent care

In March the hospital saw the first UK death of someone who had tested positive for coronavirus

The Royal Berkshire Hospital will postpone all non-urgent operations for the next two weeks due to an increase in coronavirus patients.

The hospital in Reading said the changes were being introduced to "ease pressure on staff and services".

Urgent operations, cancer care and endoscopy procedures will continue as normal, the hospital said.

A spokeswoman said the changes were in line with national requests to pause non-urgent work and redeploy staff.

The move only applies to the Royal Berkshire site and other hospitals in the county will be unaffected.

"We are working hard to ensure safety for all patients and if you are invited for a planned appointment, it is absolutely safe to do so and we are here and want to help," a statement said.

In March, a woman with underlying health conditions became the first person in the UK to die after testing positive for coronavirus at the Royal Berkshire Hospital.