New figures reveal the scale of the challenge faced by hospitals in north Cumbria at the height of Covid-19’s first wave – including hundreds of staff absences.

The release of new data comes amid a renewed call from a senior Cumbrian doctor for the public to take stopping its spread seriously, to avoid further pressure on the NHS this winter.

Figures released last Thursday by NHS England demonstrate the strain placed on the North Cumbria Integrated Care (NCIC) NHS Foundation Trust, which runs hospitals in north Cumbria - as well as NHS Trusts across England - during the peak of the Covid-19 outbreak earlier this year.

At one point in early April, Covid-19 patients occupied more than a third of all the beds being used in north Cumbria’s hospitals.

And through much of April and May, between 300 and 450 staff members across the trust were absent each day as a result of Covid-19, either through sickness or self isolation.

On Monday April 6, as the second week of the national lockdown began, there were 317 occupied beds across the NCIC trust in total.

Of these 317 patients, 125 of them had Covid-19, meaning Covid patients accounted for 39 per cent of the total number of those occupying beds across the trust.

On the same day, there were 262 staff members across the trust who were absent from work as a result of Covid-19, either through sickness or self-isolation. Across England, that figure came to 104,080.

Two days earlier, on Saturday April 4, a total of 687 staff members had been absent across the NCIC trust for this reason - the highest number of Covid-related absences for the trusts across a single day.

The following day, Tuesday April 7, Covid-related absences jumped to 302, and from that day until Sunday May 24, was consistently above 300 absences apart from four days.

Covid absence figures regularly exceeded 400 in a single day between April 7 and May 24, with April 17 and 18 both seeing 514 Covid-related staff absences.

Mirroring the gradual tapering off of Covid-related NHS staff absences seen across England, the NCIC trust saw a slow reduction in subsequent months, though not going below a low of 67 in late September before beginning to climb again to more than 100 at the start of November.

Likewise, the trust saw a gradual decrease in its bed numbers occupied by Covid patients, to zero on September 11.

The NCIC trust’s beds were Covid-free until September 26, when numbers began to gradually climb again to a peak of 47 last Thursday - the most recent day for the NHS England data.

Dr Jon Sturman, clinical director for intensive care for the NCIC trust, said that in the past week numbers of Covid patients in north Cumbria’s hospitals have climbed again.

“Although, in the north of the county, we are not yet at the levels of hospitalisations we were in the first wave, cases in our hospitals have doubled in the last ten days,” he said.

“This highlights the seriousness of the situation and how important it is that we all act now so that services do not become overwhelmed.

“We don’t want to be in the position of cancelling or suspending other services.”

The fear that rising Covid cases would lead to a suspension or cancellation of other NHS services was one of several motivations leading the Prime Minister to declare the month-long national lockdown the nation now finds itself in.

Dr Sturman’s message to the residents of north Cumbria is clear.

“The virus does not spread itself, we spread it, so we are all responsible for slowing and stopping the spread.“Washing your hands, wearing a face mask and keeping your distance is our best defence against this horrible virus at the moment.”

Dr Sturman added the following sobering warning: “I have seen first-hand what a nasty virus this is. It can kill but it can also leave others with lasting debilitating effects.

“Please, not just to protect the NHS but also for your own protection, continue to do all you can to make sure this virus is kept under control.”

A Freedom of Information request responded to by the trust in October detailed that the total workforce across the trust, as of October 1, stood at 8,020. The total number of staff members who had been diagnosed with Covid-19 totalled 640, and the total number who had taken time away from work in order to self-isolate was 1,285.

Carlisle MP John Stevenson said: “This goes to the heart of the Government’s concern – that there was always the danger the NHS might not have capacity to cope, partly because of the number of beds and also because there could have been insufficient staff to provide the care required. It shows Covid affects healthcare workers as well as the wider community.”

The MP said he preferred to Government’s ‘tier’ approach to applying restrictions but accepted the decision to have a general lockdown. “These are very difficult decisions,” he added.