Betsi Cadwaladr UHB have issued the following update:
“ Despite the positive news about the vaccination programme starting, we are aware that the situation regarding COVID-19 is evolving quickly and there is mounting concern as case numbers have continued to rise across Wales.
- although levels in south Wales are higher presently, positive COVID-19 results are increasing in North Wales in almost all age groups.
- it is likely that this will continue and we need to escalate our preparedness for an increase in COVID-19 admissions during the end of December and in to January.
- although the epidemiology indicates that activity is probably spreading westwards, it is still the case that the areas of highest COVID-19 incidence are in the east of North Wales. We need to be prepared for an increase in admissions that is not necessarily evenly distributed across all of our hospitals.
- currently we have around 150 patients in our hospitals being treated for, or recovering from, COVID-19. If numbers of admissions match the current growth of positive cases being diagnosed then we could see numbers that are two or three times this high by the end of December.
- the need for social distancing and cohorting of COVID-19 positive patients reduces our hospital capacity further.
- we need to build capacity through a combination of surge and reprioritising our activity.
In addition to ensuring that we are equipped to manage the potential surge in admissions of both COVID-19 and non COVID-19 patients, as part of our Prevention and Protection plans, we must ensure that we can fully resource increased testing in our communities, in our staff groups and the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination.”