And things will undoubtedly change in the coming hours and days - and not for the good. I am sitting with the hospital’s emergency planning officer, Libby Beesley.
Poole Hospital Emergency Planning Co-ordinator Libby Beesley She is joining the daily ‘state of play’ or beds meeting on Teams where representatives, medical and otherwise from across all departments assess how things are from overnight and how the day is likely to unfold. There is a similar meeting going on at the same time at Royal Bournemouth Hospital. The two hospitals work side by side under the umbrella of University Hospitals Dorset NHS Trust following the reconfiguring of health services.
That grim tally of 20,000 cases was passed at the weekend when it was also revealed the amount of people who had died with Covid in Dorset s hospitals had sadly risen. According to the latest figures, eight deaths were recorded by University Hospitals Dorset on January 6, 7 and 8. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the trust has now recorded 313 Covid-related deaths. Meanwhile, a total of 36 people have died at Dorset County Hospital after recording a positive test since the start of the pandemic, with 35 deaths reported by the Dorset Healthcare Trust. It has also been revealed that the number of people in Dorset’s hospitals battling coronavirus has doubled since New Year’s Eve – and we have still not yet reached the peak.
Dorset is now gripped with coronavirus and people are being urged to do all they can to help relieve pressure on our hospitals which are close to being overwhelmed . There have now been more than 20,000 cases of Covid-19 across the whole of Dorset since the start of the pandemic. The amount of cases in the Dorset Council and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) areas is rising sharply each day, with the BCP area recording more cases in its area. That grim tally of 20,000 cases was passed at the weekend when it was also revealed the amount of people who had died with Covid in Dorset s hospitals had sadly risen.