East Sussex Healthcare (ESH) has 51 per cent of their beds filled with Covid patients. Surrey and Sussex Healthcare (SSH) has 42 per cent. Western Sussex Hospitals (WSH) has 28 per cent.
Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals (BSUH) has 27 per cent. On their most deadly days during the recent wave, ESH had 18 deaths, SSH and WSH had ten and BSUH had seven. Hospital trusts are adding beds to cope with the increased demands on their services. However, national nurse leaders have warned staff-to-patient ratios are becoming increasingly dangerous. This is due to the increasing hospital admissions along with rising staff absences. Across the South East, 3,496 NHS staff are absent due to Covid – either through sickness or self-isolation.
Figures cover Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust and other health trusts in our area HOSPITALS across Sussex are caring for more coronavirus patients than during the peak of the first wave of Covid-19, figures reveal. As of January 12, all health trusts in our area were treating more patients than at the height of the pandemic in April. One trust had five times as many patients - with full figures available below. Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned there was a “very substantial” risk of intensive care units being overwhelmed by the current wave of Covid-19 cases, as the number of patients in hospital with the virus reached a record high nationally.