Coronavirus: Warning over hospital services to manage peak

The message to staff is a warning of what might happen over the next four to six weeks

It is likely there will be changes to some hospital services to manage the current Covid peak, the chief executive of the largest health trust has warned.

In correspondence to Belfast Health Trust staff, Cathy Jack said some workers may be temporarily redeployed to manage exceptionally high absences.

The message is a warning of what might happen over the next four to six weeks.

That timeframe takes in moving beyond the peak of the virus and dealing with the lag in patients that follows.

According to Ms Jack staff absences remain high and that could affect which services they can be deliver both within hospital and in the community.

She said the demand for "hospital and community services was huge", which was made more challenging to manage as staff sickness levels "remain high."

"All of these pressures reflect the high community transmission of the Omicron variant and are likely to remain with us for the next six weeks," she said.

BBC News NI understands red flag cancer cases and other critical care will be protected

The trust has described this pre-emptive move as " business continuity" which will help keep flow going through hospitals.

It has been described as a "temporary but significant change to hospital and community services".

BBC News NI understands the other health trusts are on standby to deliver similar instructions if their own staff numbers reduce further.

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In the past and when under similar pressure a health trust has declared a major incident.

While such a move is part of every health trust's escalation plans, it is usually seen as a last resort.

In effect it means a hospital is closing its doors to any new patients and diverts are put in place for ambulances to attend other hospitals.

Red flag cancer cases

Sources have told the BBC that while in recent months some health trusts have come close to declaring such an incident, working jointly with other trusts means it has been avoided.

The correspondence to Belfast trust staff also states that in order to continue delivering services safely some of the workforce may have to be redeployed.

There is no mention of which services are likely to be affected but BBC News NI understands red flag cancer cases and other critical care will be protected.

While there is evidence that hospital numbers have peaked - a gradual fall in cases and staff absences means the next few weeks will be challenging.

As of last Friday, out of more than 21,000 staff, 2,331 were off - 962 off for Covid-related reasons and 1,369 off for non-Covid reasons.