Flu and Covid cases putting strain on hospitals in Mansfield and Ashfield

As of January 1, 96 per cent of the 684 beds across adult and paediatric general and acute wards at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Sutton’s King’s Mill, Mansfield Community and Newark hospitals, were occupied.

Of the occupied beds, 632 were for adults beds and 28 for children, meanwhile, all of the 13 critical care beds were occupied.

Prof Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director for England, said: "We knew this winter would be one of the most difficult in the history of the NHS and I want to thank staff for all their hard work in caring for and treating so many patients while dealing with record demand on services, including the enormous pressure from flu and Covid.

“The plans we announced last autumn will help ensure we are in the best place possible to provide care for patients at this incredibly challenging time.”

Phil Bolton, SFH chief nurse, said: “Last week, we opened a further 49 beds to take the total number of inpatient beds open across the trust to 773, the most ever opened by the trust at any one time.

“There is huge demand for NHS services across the country and our hardworking staff are going to extraordinary lengths every day to be there for the patients they care for.

“We know our hospitals are the perfect place to receive vital medical attention when needed, but they simply aren’t the best place for patients to continue their recovery.

“We are asking our local communities to support their NHS.”

David Selwyn, SFH medical director, said: “Although we do have flu in our hospitals, the number of cases has decreased over the past week, whether that fall is sustained now that the schools have returned, we will have to see.

"As of Tuesday, January 10, there are 19 inpatients with flu, 46 with Covid and eight with respiratory syncytial virus. Generally, the patients we are seeing are ‘incidental’ cases rather than flu and Covid being the main reason why they’re in hospital.”