Health bosses planning for winter service pressures in Staffordshire

Hospitals are in the process of dealing with a backlog of appointments and routine procedures after they had to re-organise services during the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, alongside their recovery plans, heath bosses are preparing to meet the added demand that comes with winter. And this year there are also concerns a second wave of Covid-19 could be on the horizon.

Tracy Bullock, chief executive of University Hospitals of North Midlands (UNHM) NHS Trust, told a Staffordshire County Council health select committee meeting on Monday that "surge planning" was taking place.

She said: "With winter we know we have the usual seasonal flu, so we will be going with the flu vaccine programme with gusto. Nationally this will be a monumental piece of work to try to get a significantly larger number of people vaccinated against flu.

"On top of that we may well see a Covid vaccine – and what we know now is there won’t be the time to combine the routine flu jab with the Covid jab. That will mean people having at least two – and possibly even three injections – because initially with the Covid vaccines they are looking at two have two injections and one has one.

"If it is one of the ones that has two injections that means it will be a seasonal flu injection, then nothing within 28 days, the first Covid injection and then the second Covid injection after 28 days. That’s three injections for people and that’s going to be an absolutely huge undertaking.

"With winter we also see an increase in the number of seasonal respiratory conditions, and all this is happening while we have reduced capacity. We don’t have one A&E department at the moment, our A&E is split into different zones to deal with the Covid and the non-Covid, and similarly with primary care they’re not set up as they were initially.

"On top of that we are also planning for a resurgence of Covid or a second surge. That will be a significant challenge for us."

Speaking after the meeting Mrs Bullock said the flu vaccination campaign was this year being extended to target the over 50s, as well as care workers and vulnerable and at risk groups.

She added: "What we want to do is make sure we vaccinate as many staff as possible and as quickly as possible. If we get a Covid vaccine we want to be able to start delivering that as soon as possible.

"We want patients to protect themselves and we want them to not become ill with the flu. Many of the symptoms are very similar to Covid.

"The flu vaccination is there, it is free to many and it saves lives."

Lynn Miller, director of primary care for Staffordshire’s six Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), told the meeting that health services would also be focusing on encouraging residents from minority communities to get flu vaccinations.

Studies have indicated that people from black and Asian ethnic groups have faced higher death rates from Covid-19 than those from white ethnic groups.

Ms Miller said: "Our priority is to vaccinate the high-risk groups and one of the groups that don’t necessarily come forward for their flu vaccines are the BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic groups).

"This year I think it is really important, with the second surge of Covid, that we are more proactive in our targeting of the flu campaign. This is an area we need to work with district councils, borough councils and your teams to help get this message across.

"It’s part of our flu plan to increase proactive targeting of the flu campaign and BAME is a really good example. I will be asking our teams to pull together a very specific plan for BAME and vaccinations."