Covid-19 patients at BRI higher than at hospital's peak in May

The second wave has hit and the hospital is dealing with rising numbers of patients who have been struck down by the virus.

The work of those on the frontline at the hospital was highlighted in a Channel 4 News piece, which was broadcast last night. It heard that the hospital’s ‘red’ area for those with Covid-19 is “almost completely full”.

It’s a worrying return to the early days of the pandemic, but doctors now have greater knowledge about how to treat patients with the virus.

CPAP – continuous positive airway pressure – is a lesson learned from the first wave and has kept many patients out of intensive care, while drugs like the steroid dexamethasone can also help.

In June, the drug was hailed as a “major breakthrough” in the fight against Covid-19 after it was found to reduce deaths by up to a third among patients on ventilators.

Dr Dinesh Saralaya, respiratory consultant at the hospital, told Channel 4 News: “We’ve definitely learnt from the first experience, so we are treating Covid patients better.

“Even our junior doctors know what to start when they come to A&E. When they come to A&E we are able to request the right bloods on them, their imaging is always done almost immediately, we are able to risk stratify them and we are able to institute either oxygen therapy or ventilator support early in their pathway into hospital.

“That will save a lot of lives.”

Physiotherapist Hannah Finan said the hospital feels busier than in April as they have both Covid and non-Covid patients.

She told the programme: “People are just as unwell, we’ve had just as many people pass away I think, if not more, recently.”

When patients leave the hospital, that doesn’t mark the end of the impact Covid-19 has on their lives and the BRI has had to set up a team for the post-Covid patients.

They have seen 100 since July and have 200 referrals.

Dr Paul Whitaker said: “We’re seeing a wide range of problems, so we’re following patients up who needed ventilation on the wards, but we’re also taking GP referrals for people who’ve never been to hospital.

“We are spotting a lot of patterns, so we’re seeing people with breathlessness, physical fatigue, emotional fatigue, mental fatigue.”

A new study found one in 20 people with Covid-19 are still suffering symptoms eight weeks later, while on in 50 are struggling after three months.

The research from King’s College London, using data from the Covid Symptom Study app, found potentially hundreds of thousands of people in the UK – and millions worldwide – have long Covid.