Both in Swindon and across the country, the pandemic has created backlogs of patients waiting for routine operations and treatment.
The Government has said it expects waiting lists to get worse before they get better as people come forward for help. Relieving the burden of COVID-19, adding to existing pressures on hospital bed capacity and our GPs, can only help.
The Great Western Hospital (GWH) has recently seen a rapid increase in COVID-19 admissions. As of yesterday, it is treating 48 patients with suspected and confirmed COVID-19 – which is around a 50% increase from this time last week. Five of these patients are currently in intensive care including some in their 20s and 30s.
Many of these patients have not received either dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The GWH is treating far more people under the age of 55 than during the first wave of the pandemic and 85% of patients in this age group are not vaccinated.
The COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. Research has shown the vaccines help the following:
- reduce your risk of getting seriously ill or dying from COVID-19
- reduce your risk of catching or spreading COVID-19
protect against COVID-19 variants - The latest estimates indicate that the vaccination programme has prevented around 143,000 hospitalisations, 24 million infections and 116,000 deaths across England.
Do you know anyone not yet vaccinated? Make sure they know the facts and get their vaccines to protect themselves, others and the NHS.
From 31st August to 6th September, there were 1073 new COVID-19 cases in Swindon, up from 818 the previous week.
As of yesterday, the COVID-19 case rate in Swindon is 481 per 100k, up from 367 last week. The South West average is 380 per 100k, while the England average is 349 per 100k.
A further 318 residents have had their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, bringing the total number of people aged 18 and over vaccinated with the first dose to 162,607 (84.9%).
A total of 4,623 residents have had their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, bringing the total number of Swindon residents aged 18 and over who are fully vaccinated to 145,272 (75.8%).
