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Gloucestershire hospital full as Covid patients double

BBC Gloucestershire Royal Hospital Intensive Care UnitBBC
The hospital is currently running at full capacity, with Covid rates continuing to rise

The number of patients with Covid-19 admitted to a hospital has almost doubled in the last week.

Doctors at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital say they are bracing themselves for the situation to get worse, with 68 people currently admitted, nine of whom are in critical care.

With all beds currently occupied, the hospital is effectively full.

Staff say they are already struggling to cope under the continued pressure.

Dr Rachel Kaminski, a respiratory consultant, said: "It's already busier and much worse than any winters I've encountered whilst working in the NHS, so we've got not only our Covid patient numbers rapidly escalated over the past couple of weeks, but our general patient numbers are really really high."

A separate intensive care ward for Covid patients is now full and some are now having to be treated in the main intensive care area.

Covid patient, Erica Chevis in hospital bed
Erica Chevis spent three weeks in intensive care after contracting Covid during a trip to Cardiff with friends

Erica Chevis, 54, was in a coma for three weeks fighting for her life. Now out of intensive care, she wants to urge others to be more cautions.

"We were so complacent. We all went down to Cardiff on the train, none of us wore masks, walked round all day, had some food came back. The following day the kids came home and found me unresponsive on the floor, I woke up 3 weeks later."

Ms Chevis had been double jabbed but seven of the nine patients currently being cared for on the intensive care ward have not been vaccinated.

Staff are appealing that those who have not already had it get the jab to protect themselves and help ease the pressure.

Dr Kaminski said: "A lot of them are really wishing they had the vaccine and had seen things online that made them scared but now they're faced with this situation where they're staring death in the eyes and they don't have anything but regret that the didn't get their vaccine."