Craigavon: Fourth Covid-19 hospital death

A fourth haematology patient at Craigavon Area Hospital has died after testing positive for coronavirus, the Southern Health Trust has confirmed.

Fourteen patients on the ward were confirmed to have the virus in a cluster identified last week.

The trust said it had notified the Health Minister Robin Swann and public health officials about the latest death.

Mr Swann has announced a level three Serious Adverse Incident investigation.

This is the highest level health service investigation.

Addressing the Northern Ireland Assembly on Monday afternoon, Mr Swann said he had asked the Southern Health Trust to "immediately initiate" the investigation.

Last week, two haematology patients in the hospital who had tested positive for Covid-19 died.

A third patient, from the same ward, who had been discharged, also died but the virus was not the primary cause of death.

The family of one of those patients, John Fleming, 79, from Loughgilly, said they wanted answers from the trust about how the virus got into his ward.

The health minister said he was assured that everything that needs to be done to prevent infection was being done.

"The investigation will be in the form of a level three Serious Adverse Incident, which I've asked the trust to initiate immediately," Mr Swann said.

"Support will be available for families, patients and staff throughout this, and the investigation will provide families with the answers they're entitled to.

"However, I simply cannot put a timeline until the underlying causes are established, which the investigation will provide."

Over the past six months, there have been many patients who contracted Covid-19 while in hospital and who have died.

Those individual stories did not make the news - so why is what's happening at Craigavon Area Hospital's haematology ward be any different?

The difference is those deaths took place in a hospital where three clusters of Covid-19 have been identified.

Fourteen patients in all contracted the virus in hospital - four have now died.

In the space of a fortnight, patients and staff quickly became infected. Over 100 members of staff were unable to work due to either having Covid-19 or being a contact.

One of the clusters, located in the haematology ward, involved patients who were already vulnerable and critically ill.

Infection control in this ward would have been critical but somehow the virus slipped in.

Last week, the Southern Health trust said the outbreak was under control. Now the Minister and others are asking if in-fact it was?

To reinforce the seriousness of what has happened, Health Minister Robin Swann has ordered the highest level of hospital investigation.

A level three Serious Adverse Incident is not common and will aim to leave no stone unturned.

There will be many questions but the one that perhaps is most critical how the virus managed to get into the hospital and be able to spread may never be answered.

It could have been brought in unknowingly by a visitor or member of staff.

Whatever the cause, this is a very serious matter not only for the Southern Health Trust but indeed for the entire health service.

The minister added that a series of steps were under way to share any lessons across all health and social care trusts in Northern Ireland.

"Undoubtedly questions have to be answered in relation to these outbreaks once the immediate threat is brought under control," he said.

Earlier on Monday, the daily release from the Department on Health in Northern Ireland reported one new coronavirus related death.

The department's daily dashboard shows that 141 people have been diagnosed in the last 24 hours. In total, 7,868 people in Northern Ireland have tested positive.

There were 102 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Republic of Ireland as of midnight on Sunday, which brought the total of confirmed cases to 29,774.