More James Paget Hospital staff off than ever before, boss says

The hospital is coping because it has "a zero vacancy rate", chief executive Anna Hills told the hospital's governors

A hospital was "completely full" on Tuesday and has unprecedented staff sickness levels due to Covid-19, its chief executive said.

The James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston in Norfolk, had 13 Covid patients on Christmas Eve but that number has now risen to 51.

Currently 11% of its staff are absent, compared to its usual rate of about 4%.

Chief executive Anna Hills said it was "one of the most challenging times" for the trust.

Ms Hills told a meeting of the hospital's council of governors: "We've had to extend our Covid patients into other wards - so we have one infection control ward. We've had to extend into a second ward and then this week we've had to extend into a third ward.

"On top of that, we've got staff sickness levels the likes of which we've never seen before."

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The chief executive said the current situation was "one of the most challenging times, or the most challenging time, that the trust has ever seen".

But she added the trust was as in a "really fortunate position" with "a zero vacancy rate", BBC-funded Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The meeting also heard more than 95% of hospital staff had received both Covid-19 vaccines and 85% had also received their boosters.