NHS Borders pauses routine operations as Covid cases surge

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The health board said hospitals such as Borders General were under severe pressure

Routine operations and most hospital visiting have been axed by a health board facing "significant pressures" created by Covid.

NHS Borders has paused all routine operations scheduled for the rest of this week and is reducing the number of outpatient appointments.

The health board has also moved to "essential visiting" at its hospitals for at least the next 14 days.

Changes to social care packages are also planned to help relieve pressure.

People in hospital waiting to be discharged into social care will be asked to agree "interim moves" if care home places are not available in order to free up beds.

NHS Borders said it was experiencing a "very high demand" for its services with hospitals operating at over 95% capacity.

'Difficult decisions'

Dr Lynn McCallum, medical director of NHS Borders, said: "Cases of Covid-19 in the community are rising sharply, and we expect this to continue over the coming weeks.

"Given how contagious Omicron is and the high numbers of people requiring care there are significant pressures on our services; particularly when we factor in staff absences due to the virus.

"To make sure that we are able to continue vital services during this challenging time, it has been necessary to make a number of difficult decisions such as pausing routine surgery and moving to essential visiting.

Dr McCallum warned GPs and other primary care providers may also need to "adjust the service they provide" so that they can prioritise appointments for the most urgent patients.

Image source, Getty Images

NHS Borders said "everything possible will be done" to allow urgent, cancer and emergency surgeries to continue but said it "is likely" that routine operating will need to be paused again.

Among the examples of "essential visitors" given by the health board are birth partners, those visiting someone receiving end-of-life care and people supporting children or those with a learning disability.

More guidance on visiting can be found here, external.

In the last seven days more than 2,000 Covid cases have been recorded in the Borders with a total of 34 patients currently in its hospitals with the virus.

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