Craigavon Hospital: Clusters could impact on services

Craigavon Area Hospital treated the highest number of Covid-19 patients in NI during the height of the pandemic

Some services could be halted at Craigavon Area Hospital after a third Covid-19 outbreak was detected, according to a health trust chief executive.

Two clusters were identified at the hospital last week.

Shane Devlin, who leads the Southern Trust, said a reduction in services would be a last resort.

Two more deaths related to coronavirus were reported on Wednesday, bringing the total to 562.

Over 50 staff are isolating due to outbreaks

One of the victims was a woman who was resident in a care home in the Ards and North Down Borough Council, while the other was a man who from the Mid and East Antrim area who died in hospital.

They were both more than 80 years old.

One further death and 89 additional cases were confirmed in the Republic of Ireland on Wednesday.

Confirming the most recent deaths in Northern Ireland at a Stormont briefing, the health minister said he had commissioned a second Nightingale facility in Northern Ireland to help relieve pressure on the healthcare system due to the pandemic.

Robin Swann said the facility at Whiteabbey Hospital, County Antrim, would provide 100 regional care beds in the winter.

He said the facility's intermediate care beds would "aid the flow of patients from intensive and acute care".

Speaking about the Craigavon outbreaks, Mr Devlin said 40 haematology staff and 11 staff members from the general medical ward of Craigavon Area Hospital are in quarantine.

"Clearly they are not all Covid-positive, but what we must really appreciate is, given it is a highly contagious virus, we must make sure that anyone who potentially has been in contact with infected cases, or anyone who is positive, that we quarantine them," he told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme.

He said he was grateful for the response from hospital staff who he acknowledged were under "extra pressure" and said the trust was exploring ways to alleviate that.

"We would be looking to agency staff and, finally and reluctantly, there may be services we would have to stop delivering to allow staff to carry on caring for patients that we can't stop delivering to," he said.

Contact tracing is being carried out at Craigavon Area Hospital

"What I would say at the moment is that we are managing that and I don't want to induce any panic, that is being managed well, but clearly there is the potential that that (the outbreaks) could have an impact on clients and patients.

"Any large organisation, and that includes the health and social care trusts, if we begin to lose staff through illness or through quarantine it can have an impact, but I would stress that we are managing that."

All visiting across the County Armagh hospital has been suspended from Wednesday, with a review to take place next week. Visits may still take place in end-of-life circumstances.

The Southern Trust says there have been no further cases identified in the emergency department, after three staff members tested positive and 21 were in self-isolation.

Agency staff are being looked at to alleviate pressures

Another four patients have now been diagnosed with Covid-19 on the haematology ward, which treats blood disorders.

Ten patients there were confirmed to have the virus last week, along with eight staff members.

The trust said there are now 16 members of staff on the ward off and self-isolating.

Contact tracing of those staff members has been carried out and another 40 staff members are isolating as potential contacts.

The ward remains closed to new admissions.

There have been 71 new cases in the past 24 hours.

The Department of Health has also confirmed 71 more people have tested positive for Covid-19 in Northern Ireland in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 7,365.

Eighteen people are in hospital with Covid-19, with three patients in an intensive care unit.

There have been 18 outbreaks at care homes.

'Tough winter'

Speaking at the briefing about his strategic planning for a second Covid-19 surge in the months ahead, Mr Swann warned there was a tough winter ahead.

He stressed that the virus "has the potential for another full-scale assault" and appealed to the public to "stick together and work together to break down its chains of transmission".

He said coronavirus testing centres were under pressure, partly due to the reopening of schools and an increase in people returning to the workplace.

However, Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride said Northern Ireland is "testing more people per 100, 000 of the population than any other part of these islands".

Dr McBride said clusters of cases associated with schools are expected.

Belfast has seen the highest number of cases

He said clusters will not necessarily relate to the school environment, but could be linked to activities associated with school, before school and after school.

He added that guidance to schools will be kept under constant review so it is "understandable" to parents and principals.

Children's home cluster

The Belfast Trust confirmed on Wednesday that "a number" of staff at a children's residential unit have tested positive for the virus.

It said no children are affected at the unit which cares for young people aged 12-18.

It said that "some staff" are currently self-isolating, but there was no impact on safe staffing levels.

An environmental clean has been carried out at the North Road site and contact tracing has been completed.

The trust said there have been no other outbreaks in children's homes which it manages.