Belfast Trust postpones elective surgeries in preparation of Covid19 surge

By Brett Campbell

The rising number of coronavirus cases has prompted the Belfast Trust to start preparing for the worst case scenario.  

Elective surgeries planned for over the next two weeks have been cancelled across the Trust in order to increase ICU capacity at the Mater and Royal Victoria Hospitals in Belfast. 

Officials say it’s in response to a surge of COVID19 patients.  

150 people are currently in hospital with the infection with 23 requiring intensive care.  

A spokesperson for the Belfast Trust apologised to those affected, including cancer patients. 

They said the decision was taken with a ''heavy heart'' and promised staff will do ''everything within their power'' to reschedule operations within the next few weeks. 

''We have made the extremely difficult decision to cancel elective surgery this week as we relocate and expand our Covid ICU from the Mater to the Belfast City Hospital Tower Block,'' the spokesperson added. 

''Today we need to expand our intensive care beds to Belfast City Hospital to cope with the increase of patients ventilated at the Mater Hospital.

''We are able to care for up to 11 ventilated patients at the Mater Hospital and currently we are caring for 10.

''Regrettably, the data tells us that we are likely to have more Covid positive ICU patients in the coming days. We therefore need to be in a position to continue to care for Covid positive ICU patients, and receive the next wave of intensive care patients into BCH.  

''To do this we need to have staff available and ready in BCH. A 10-bedded intensive care ward requires up 80 clinical staff, in addition to support services, to safely care for patients. This is a huge draw on our staffing resource who are grappling with pressures in their own areas of work.

''While we have a plan as to how to free colleagues to work in BCH, regrettably it means we have to postpone elective procedures in some areas this week.

''This will give us the opportunity to upskill staff to support the anticipated rise in patients being admitted with Covid-19 both to hospital, and to an expanded ICU in BCH.''

The Mater Hospital will continue to treat Covid-19 patients who do not require ICU level care in its role as Covid-19 Belfast Hospital.

Medical director Mr Chris Hagan said: “This decision was extremely difficult and one that we did not want to have to make.

''We have, however, seen a significant rise in admissions related to Covid-19 in recent days and feel it is now necessary to move to this stage in our surge plan to ensure we can continue to deliver safe levels of care”.  

He added “To patients who have had procedures cancelled this week I apologise that we are unable to provide the treatment you were expecting and it was not a decision we took lightly . We will do everything in our power to reschedule cancelled surgery over the coming weeks.”