Covid: Old hospitals added to infection risk

NHS Wales’ National Nosocomial Covid-19 programme, external has been looking at hundreds of cases investigated by health boards, although it insists it is separate from the UK Covid inquiry and was also not looking to place blame.

It has identified a number of challenges and recommends key learning points.

The pandemic highlighted the impact modern hospital design, such as the availability of single rooms, can have on strengthening infection control.

It found many older hospitals had limited availability to isolate patients so many patients faced multiple ward movements.

Families also found that they were often not informed of these movements, which resulted in additional difficulties when seeking updates.

Health officials said there were huge difficulties in stopping the spread of Covid in busy places like hospitals, which operated like small towns.

The NHS in Wales was recently estimated to have £793m maintenance backlog and nearly half of buildings are at least 40 years old.

But in the short term, managers were to look at opportunities to make better use of existing space.

Facing unprecedented pressure, the report found there was a worsening of delays to discharges of patients who were otherwise medically fit to leave hospital.

Delays meant an increased risk of deterioration and infection.

It also found: