Croydon hospital nearing patient numbers it saw during first peak

By Tara O’Connor, Local Democracy Reporter

Croydon University Hospital is nearly as busy as it was during the first peak of the coronavirus pandemic.

And staff at the hospital are bracing themselves for the possibility of Covid-19 patients exceeding the 282 peak seen in April 2020.

About half of the London Road hospital’s beds are taken up by more than 200 Covid patients.

Chief executive Matthew Kershaw said: “The pressure that we are seeing from this new wave is hugely significant and very challenging and I wouldn’t want to underplay that for a second.

“But I would also like to call out the huge efforts that staff are showing right across the hospital and community services.

“For nearly 12 months we have been running with the pandemic, it is a very long period and staff are impacted by that.

“Our numbers are just below where we were at the absolute peak. We are expecting this position to continue for a few weeks.

“We are seeing an increase in younger patients with the acute disease which is something that needs to be understood.”

The hospital has expanded the emergency capacity but has had to postpone some care which is deemed non-urgent.

Urgent care, including for patients with cancer, is continuing along with urgent diagnostic treatment.

So far at the hospital, more than 6,000 people have received the vaccine since vaccinations started in mid-December.

And it is hoped that by the end of this month all health and care workers will be offered the vaccine.

Pictured top: Croydon University Hospital