Continued drop in number of coronavirus patients at region's hospitals
New data has been released on Covid admission at our local hospitals - Credit: Archant
The number of people with coronavirus at our region's hospitals continues to drop - as does the number of Covid patients being treated in intensive care, statistics have shown.
The latest data from NHS England showed that on March 2, 113 patients with coronavirus were being treated at the Ipswich and Colchester hospitals - which are run by the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust.
This represented a 28% drop from the previous week, when 157 patients were being treated at the hospitals.
There was also a drop at West Suffolk Hospital, where case numbers fell 17% in the space of a week.
As of March 2, 14 coronavirus patients were being treated at the hospital.
At ESNEFT hospitals, 23 coronavirus patients were in the ITU on February 28, compared to 26 on February 22.
At West Suffolk Hospital, the number dropped from 14 on February 22 to 13 on February 28.
Most Read
- 1 £1.5million project set to turn north Essex towns into giant gaming areas
- 2 School apologises for GCSE paper error as it falls to inadequate
- 3 Man identified after dog walker threatened in Sudbury
- 4 Andy Warren: Why keeping Sam Morsy is vital for Ipswich Town
- 5 Man caught drink driving over three times the legal limit in Suffolk town
- 6 'It makes you want to cry' - anger as bench dumped in pond at country park
- 7 Girl, 12, injured after having foot run over by driver
- 8 Suffolk celebrates! Full list of county's 185 street parties for the Queen's jubilee
- 9 Woman injured after car flips on its roof near Ipswich
- 10 Julia Bradbury's feature on 'beautiful' Sudbury airs on This Morning today
This means that both trusts are now below the peak number of patients that were treated during the first wave.
Chief executive of ESNEFT, Nick Hulme, said on Wednesday that the dropping admissions numbers at Ipswich and Colchester hospitals remained positive.
He said this had led to his hospitals considering how to restore some elective surgeries.
"The numbers are going in the right direction in terms of both the new Covid patients we are seeing coming through A&E and the pressure on ITU," said Mr Hulme.
"As a hospital, we are starting to turn our minds to recovery and restoring our services."
Despite this, Mr Hulme called for people to remain vigilant and to continue to observe restrictions in order to avoid another spike in infections.
"It hasn't completely gone away by any means," said Mr Hulme.
"I think the worry is that we get complacent if we are not careful.
"Keeping the good practice that everybody has delivered is really important."
