Jul 30, 2021

More detailed data released on Covid in hospitals

Critics say until now, published hospital data up may not have reflected the true toll of Covid on the NHS.All patients are routinely tested for Covid upon admission, whatever the reason for them coming to hospital. Patients with Covid should be treated away from non-infected patients. Some of these 'other' patients may have conditions that have been made worse by Covid or to which Covid has contributed, says NHS England. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "The Health and Social Care Secretary asked for this data to help us better understand the impact of the vaccine programme on stopping people infected with Covid requiring hospital treatment."The total number of patients with Covid - whether that is primarily what they are being treated for or not - remains a crucial indicator of pressure on the NHS, since all those patients require careful infection control including quarantining and PPE.". Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter, from the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at the University of Cambridge, said: "The main role for hospitalisation statistics is to indicate the pressure on the NHS."Patients with Covid have to be treated in a resource-intensive way, whether Covid was the primary reason for their admission or not, and even if they caught it in hospital."Therefore the total number in hospital with Covid seems an appropriate overall summary statistic, although this new breakdown does provide additional information.

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