Covid-19: Derbyshire hospital trust passes 1,000 pandemic deaths

Gavin Boyle said this was the "biggest challenge" he had faced in 30 years with the NHS

The chief executive of a hospital trust said it was facing its "biggest challenge" after recording more than 1,000 Covid-19 deaths.

University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHDB) confirmed on Wednesday it had seen 1,015 deaths.

The number includes patients and staff members.

Gavin Boyle said the trust was "under considerable pressure" and praised the efforts of front-line workers.

There are 426 patients with Covid-19 on wards in Royal Derby Hospital and Queen's Hospital in Burton-upon-Trent, which is the highest number since the start of the pandemic.

The critical care units are also running at 75% above usual capacity.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the largest number of Covid-related deaths was on 8 April 2020 with 25 cases recorded.

Amged El-Hawrani, who worked at Queen's Hospital Burton, died in March 2020

The most recent 100 Covid deaths occurred between 21 December and 5 January, which came after the trust went through the majority of summer with few or no Covid patients being treated.

A number of healthcare staff who worked at the trust have been among the fatalities, including Burton-based consultant Amged El-Hawrani, 52-year-old consultant Manjeet Singh Riyat and hospital cleaner Eileen Landers.

The trust also confirmed it had successfully vaccinated more than 5,000 patients using the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

Mr Boyle said the hospitals were "under considerable pressure", but praised the trust's staff for their work over the year-long battle to bring the pandemic under control.

"I've worked in the NHS for 30 years, and this is the biggest challenge I've ever seen," he said.

"It's been a long haul but I'm just in awe of the people who work here - the things they've done, their resilience, their courage, their commitment [and] loyalty to the patients."

University Hospitals Birmingham was the first hospital trust in the UK to record 1,000 Covid-19 deaths in September 2020.

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