THE number of patients in all of Devon’s hospitals following a positive Covid-19 test has fallen in the last week.

As of Tuesday morning, there were 195 patients occupying beds across the county after a positive test, down on the 254 as of the previous Tuesday, the second week in a row the number has dropped by more than 20 per cent.

Patient numbers have fallen in all of Devon’s hospitals, and Devon’s figures are slightly inflated by the fact that they have been taking in patients from elsewhere in the country, including Somerset and Dorset, because in those regions, they are closer to capacity than Devon is.

In total, as of Tuesday, there were 41 patients at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (down from 58 as of Feb 2), 54 at the Nightingale (down from 57), 33 at Torbay Hospital (down from 35), 62 in Derriford Hospital in Plymouth (down from 92), two at North Devon District Hospital (down from 8), and three in Devon Partnership NHS Trust units (down from four) although not all patients are local given some have been transferred to the region from elsewhere.

The figure for the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital of 41 patients is the lowest that they have been treating for more than three months and is the lowest figure since November 4, while the two in North Devon is the lowest number since October 13.

In Cornwall, the number of patients in hospital has fallen, down to 129 from the 149 as of last week.

And the number of patients in mechanical ventilation beds across the two counties is down as well with 17 in Derriford, 6 at the Royal Devon and Exeter, three in Torbay, and one in North Devon, for a total of 27, down from 35 as of last Tuesday, while in Cornwall, the total remains unchanged at 14.

The figures show the amount of patients in hospital following a positive COVID-19 test who are currently occupying a bed.

But not every patient would necessarily have been admitted to hospital due to COVID-19, with a number of patients either contracting the virus inside the hospital, or being admitted for unrelated reasons but subsequently testing positive asymptotically when given routine tests.

And as a percentage of total acute beds available, 1 per cent of beds in North Devon are occupied with Covid patients, 7 per cent in Torbay, 7 per cent in Plymouth, and 13 per cent in Exeter and 13 per cent in Cornwall. All hospitals have seen a decrease, except for Torbay, but Torbay remains the joint second lowest in England.

North Devon, Torbay and Plymouth have the lowest percentage occupancy rates anywhere in England, while at a partnership level, Devon is the second lowest.

And based on patients, both covid and non-covid related, in adult critical care, as a share of total capacity last winter, every single hospital in Devon has a lower occupancy of capacity that last winter.

Figures from the Health Service Journal, whereby 100 per cent equals last winter’s capacity occupied, Derriford is at 95 per cent, Exeter at 76 per cent, North Devon at 63 per cent and Torbay at 30 per cent. Cornwall though is at 133 per cent. 

Dr Paul Johnson, clinical chair of the Devon CCG, told Thursday’s morning Team Devon Local Outbreak Engagement Board meeting, that while patient number in hospitals were declining, there was a way to go before getting back to ‘business as usual’.