Over 100 die with COVID contracted in North Lincolnshire hospitals

More than 100 people have died after catching coronavirus in Northern Lincolnshire’s hospitals.

Hundreds more are confirmed to have caught the virus after being admitted to Grimsby, Scunthorpe or Goole hospitals during the pandemic.

Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust says it has always tried to follow infection control guidance, and has apologised to the families of each patient who has died individually.

The figures come from a new report which lays bare the scale of COVID transmission in hospitals.

It tallies the patients who tested negative for COVID on being admitted, but first tested positive for COVID at least eight days after being admitted, meaning they contracted it while in the hospital.

Some 167 patients caught coronavirus while staying in Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital, 174 in Scunthorpe General Hospital and 25 in Goole & District Hospital.

The initial months of the pandemic saw the highest number of infections as healthcare staff adapted to the disease.

Some 217 patients caught COVID while staying in hospital in 2020.

This fell to 115 in 2021, and then 34 so far in in 2022.

The hospital trust says that the initial lack of rapid on-site testing initially made containing the spread difficult.

Its ageing buildings also meant there were few isolation facilities and a lack of ventilation.

Pop-up isolation pods were later used to quarantine patients, along with air filters and plastic curtains.

Peter Reading, Chief Executive of the trust, said: “Since COVID-19 arrived in our hospitals and local communities, our staff have worked really hard every day to minimise transmission.

“We have always scrupulously tried to ensure full compliance with national guidance on Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), including using pop-up isolation pods, screens to separate patients and risk assessments for each area, as well as social distancing, wearing of PPE and visiting restrictions in our hospitals.

“Unfortunately, some patients did test positive for the virus after testing negative on admission to hospital. We are very sorry this happened in these instances, and we have arranged to write to each patient or their next of kin to say we are sorry.”

SAGE estimates that a quarter of all COVID infections across the country occurred in healthcare environments.

The report will be presented to North East Lincolnshire Council’s health and adult social care scrutiny committee on Wednesday.