Covid: Intensive care patients transferred from London to Newcastle

Ambulances were lined up outside the Royal London Hospital on Thursday

Covid patients have been transferred to hospitals in Newcastle from over-stretched London intensive care units.

A small number, fewer than five, have been moved hundreds of miles from the south east, the BBC has been told.

Hospitals with the largest critical care capacity have been asked to take patients from other areas to ease pressures.

However, NHS England has denied that patients have been transferred to Newcastle from London.

The patient transfers were first reported by The Guardian.

It is not uncommon for patients to be transferred from one busy hospital to another within the region, but moving the sick from out of their areas is unusual.

'Not ideal'

The North of England Critical Care Network, which co-ordinates provision in the North East, north Cumbria and North Yorkshire, confirmed patients had been moved from other parts of England.

In statement, director Lesley Durham said: "During this pandemic and at these times of unprecedented pressures, we have ensured equity of patient access to critical care though mutual aid between units in the form of critical care patient transfers.

"We are also working with our colleagues and networks further afield.

"Whilst not ideal, it is correct to ensure that every person, regardless of location, has access to a critical care bed if they require one."

One medical expert described transferring people across the country as "a challenge"

Elsewhere, Northampton General Hospital - which is about 70 miles from London - has been receiving critical care patients from outside its area.

A spokesman said: "Some patients have been transferred to our critical care unit in recent weeks from other parts of the country, including London.

"We currently have one 'out-of-area' patient, but they are not from London."

NHS England said in a statement: "The NHS has tried and tested plans in place to manage significant pressure either from high Covid-19 infection rates and non-Covid winter demands and this has always included mutual aid practices whereby hospitals work together to manage admissions."

It added that no patients had been transferred from London to Newcastle, Birmingham, Northampton or Sheffield.

Across England in the week to 12 January, there were 32,202 patients in hospital with Covid-19, a rise of 5,735 on the previous week.

In the week up to 10 January there were 330,616 new cases.

Analysis

Sharon Barbour - BBC Look North health correspondent

Hospitals across the North East are already seeing many more patients than the first wave of the pandemic, and the next few weeks are likely to be the toughest yet.

But right now some - like Newcastle - have room in intensive care and are being asked to take patients from critical care units in the south which have become overwhelmed and run out of room.

Newcastle and Northumbria NHS trusts have already been taking in patients from across their own patch - most notably from Cumbria where there are not nearly enough intensive care beds for the soaring numbers of Covid patients.

But patient numbers are growing in the North East's hospitals too, and many are already struggling.

They expect next week will be the worst week they have experienced yet.

To prepare, elective work is being postponed, wards are being cleared to take in new patients, and intensive care units are being expanded.

Concerns have been raised about seriously-ill patients travelling such long distances.

Dr Uwe Franke, intensive care lead at Middlesbrough's James Cook Hospital, said: "The critical care networks work regionally and nationally and are trying to spread the workload about the country without pushing other units to their limits or out of the durability of their capacity.

"But there is a difficulty in this; we know that Covid patients are incredibly ill, they are dependent on breathing machines, they are dependent on other machines that need organ support.

"To transfer these people across the country is quite a challenge."

Dr Franke added that while hospitals in the North were keen to support colleagues across the country, some - like his own - were already reaching their limit.

His hospital currently has in excess of 200 Covid patients, with 32 of those in intensive care.

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