North Wales ICU doctor believes third wave of coronavirus is inevitable dailypost.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailypost.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
North Wales intensive care consultant warns unit effectively full with medics close to the edge
Dr Richard Pugh said the number of coronavirus patients in critical care had effectively doubled since Christmas
10:58, 6 JAN 2021
Updated
The video will auto-play soon8Cancel
Play now
Sign up to our free newsletter for the top North Wales stories sent straight to your e-mail Invalid EmailSomething went wrong, please try again later.
Sign up now!
When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they’ll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. OurPrivacy Noticeexplains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time.
BBC News
Published
media captionIntensive care consultant Dr Matt Morgan says the pandemic is like an ultramarathon for staff
The number of patients in Welsh hospitals with Covid-19 could reach twice the number seen in April, if current trends continue.
NHS Wales boss Dr Andrew Goodall said there are already almost 2,800 Covid-related patients, taking up more than a third of all hospital beds.
His warning comes amid rapid increases in cases in north Wales.
The number of critical care patients in one north Wales hospital has doubled since Christmas Eve.
Speaking at a press conference, NHS Wales chief executive Dr Goodall said the number of Covid-related patients in hospital was 4% higher than last week and is the highest on record.
The national picture: A further nine people have died with coronavirus in Wales, while there have been another 615 cases. It takes the total number of deaths in Wales to 2,891, according to PHW data. All nine new deaths were in the Aneurin Bevan health board area – one of two in Wales that has halted non-emergency procedures in recent days due to spikes in Covid-19 cases. Merthyr Tydfil continues to have the highest case rate of all Welsh counties, although the figure of 822.2 cases per 100,000 people is lower than Monday s reported figure of 870.3. A new strain of coronavirus, meanwhile, which was found to be circulating in England is already present in Wales, the Welsh Government has confirmed.
Covid-19: Are field hospitals operating in Wales?
Published
image captionDragon s Heart Hospital at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff
When the coronavirus pandemic struck in the spring, facilities all over the country from sports stadia to theatres were rapidly converted into field hospitals.
Known in Wales as Enfys (Rainbow) hospitals and in England as Nightingale hospitals, they provided thousands of extra beds, many of which were never needed.
With cases now rocketing and regular hospitals closing other services because of the high number of Covid cases filling beds, are field hospitals still part of the mix for patient care?
How many field hospitals opened in Wales?