Northamptonshire health boss says major Covid incident not over

An NHS chief executive has said a county which declared a major Covid incident "is still in the teeth of it" despite a fall in staff absences.

Northamptonshire made the declaration on 7 January, with critical services facing staff shortages.

The number of staff absent at the county's two hospital sites has since fallen from 910 to 694.

Northampton and Kettering hospitals' boss Simon Weldon said: "We cannot be sure we are past the peak."

Mr Weldon was speaking during an update from Northamptonshire's Local Resilience Forum (LRF), which is made up of front-line services.

During the briefing, the chief executive of West Northamptonshire Council Anna Earnshaw revealed the authority was expecting a further six months of pressures on social care as a result of Covid-19.

The major incident had been declared in an attempt to plan for sustained pressure on staffing levels in the wake of the Omicron variant.

It allows organisations, including the NHS, police and fire services and councils, to work together to help co-ordinate essential services.

It came at a point when about one in 10 staff across all organisations were absent from work.

Mr Weldon said: "We're still in the teeth of it. We've got more than 10% of our beds occupied by patients with Covid.

"Although staff absences are somewhat lower, we cannot be sure we are past the peak."

He added that 14 military personnel were currently being used in Northamptonshire's hospitals to help ease pressure.

They were helping in non-clinical roles in A&E and medical assessment.

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service's chief fire officer, Darren Dovey, said staff absences in the fire and police services had been falling.

He said a small number of firefighters were continuing to assist with duties such as driving ambulances and non-Covid related mortuary duties at the hospital.

Northamptonshire director of public health Lucy Wightman said there were 1,149 Covid cases per 100,000 people in the west of the county, and 1,111 in the north in the week up to 13 January.

She said there had been a reduction in the number of cases in the over-60 age bracket, but an increase among primary and secondary school pupils.

Nationally, in the week to 13 January there were 985 Covid cases per 100,000 people.

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]