Fifth of patients got coronavirus while in hospital

Up to a fifth of patients with coronavirus in several hospitals contracted the disease over the course of the pandemic while already being treated there for another illness.

The Guardian is reporting that NHS bosses have told senior doctors and nurses that some of the infections were passed on by hospital staff who were unaware they had the virus and were displaying no symptoms, while patients with coronavirus were responsible for the others.

In a national briefing on infection control and coronavirus in April, NHS England told the medical directors and chief nurses of all acute hospitals in England that it had found that 10 per cent to 20 per cent of people in hospital with the disease had got it while they were inpatients. Senior figures at several NHS trusts have confirmed to the newspaper that a senior official at NHS England said in the briefing that the rate of hospital-acquired coronavirus infections was running at 10 per cent to 20 per cent and that asymptomatic staff had caused some of the cases.

It is believed that doctors, nurses and other staff have inadvertently passed on the virus to patients because they did not have adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) or could not get tested for the virus.

NHS sources maintain that the true rate nationally is currently between five per cent and seven per cent.

Dr Paul Donaldson, the general secretary of the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association, a doctors’ trade union, said: “It seems to be a significant number of anecdotal cases that are reported to us that are nosocomial infection of Covid-19 by many doctors throughout the country. They comment that they are aware of cases in their hospitals. They are concerned that a greater number of patients are becoming infected than they would like. They and we at the HCSA worry that the inadequacy of PPE might be contributing to this increase in nosocomial infections.”