BBC News
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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.
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.
Dr David Weir, who was in his sixties, had worked for the NHS in North Manchester for 30 years, before moving to East Lancashire during the pandemic
A dedicated and respected respiratory doctor who went on the frontline to fight coronavirus has died from the illness.
Dr David Weir, who was in his sixties, had worked for the NHS in North Manchester for 30 years, before moving to East Lancashire during the pandemic.
He died from Covid-19 in December and is among 216 healthcare workers who have passed away from it.
East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust chief executive Kevin McGee led tributes to Dr Weir today.
Warns of “inexorably” rising numbers of covid-19 inpatients at neighbouring trust
Hospital chiefs in the South West have warned the region will not avoid the extreme pressures felt by other parts of the NHS amid rapidly rising numbers of covid-19 inpatients.
The region was the least affected area of England during the pandemic’s first wave, but the medical director of two acute trusts yesterday predicted a “tidal wave” of covid-19 coming to the West Country.
Adrian Harris, medical director at Royal Devon and Exeter Foundation Trust and Northern Devon Healthcare Trust, said the region faced an “absolute crisis” and individual trusts would be “hanging on by their fingernails”.