Number of patients with Covid at Blackpool Victoria Hospital 'continues to increase' as ops are cancelled

Last week's figure of 177 was already an all-time high but has since been surpassed by today's total of 196.

Dr Jim Gardner, medical director at the NHS trust which runs Blackpool Victoria Hospital and Clifton Hospital in St Annes, said 128 were on wards at the Vic and 50 are at the Clifton.

Some 18 are in the Vic's intensive care unit, though there are more fighting for their lives who tested positive over 14 days ago.

And 21 people have died after testing positive for the coronavirus since last Wednesday, Dr Gardner said in his weekly briefing.

He said: "That give a sense of just how serious the situation is for the hospital and for the community at the moment."

Blackpool's infection rate continues to grow, according to Public Health England figures.

It now stands at 445.3 per 100,000 people, up from 314.8 the week before, with 621 new cases confirmed in just seven days.

Fylde's rate has grown to 313.2 from 222.8 with 253 new cases, and Wyre's has risen to 335.4 from 246.2, with 376 new cases.

Dr Gardner said: "This is still a picture of progressive increase in the prevalence of Covid and this is being reflected on the case mix that we are seeing coming through the hospital.

"And the pressure is such now that I'm really sorry to say that we are having to start to cancel certain outpatient clinics and certain surgical procedures and we really do not like to this, so we are doing this as a last resort and trying very hard to communicate with our patients and the general public when we do have to change plans.

"We really apologise for this. It's a last resort for us but the situation is quite tight at the moment in terms of managing bed capacity and also moving our clinical teams around to be able to do the work that is of most value."