Harrogate hospital staff 'tired and anxious' but well prepared as second Covid wave looms

Senior leaders across the NHS raised the concerns in a national survey which warned the first wave had made a lasting impact on staff and services that had yet to fully recover.

Almost all surveyed (99%) said they were either extremely or moderately concerned about the current level of burnout across the workforce.

It comes as health chiefs at North Yorkshire County Council have warned the region is at a "tipping point" in the pandemic following a rise in infections and as hospital admissions start to follow.

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Hospital staff in Harrogate have said while the workforce is "understandably tired and anxious" about what may come, they are putting the final touches to their escalation plans.

"We acknowledge how hard everyone worked in extraordinary pressure to get ready and look after patients," a spokesman said.

"Colleagues have had no real break in between the initial pressures of preparing for and coping with the pandemic, and this recovery time in which we are using all our efforts to see an increasing number of patients.

"We are all working very hard and are committed to ensuring patients continue to receive good care."

The hospital is spending more than half-a-million pounds on upgrades to its emergency department and has set aside 100 beds for coronavirus patients in preparation for the second wave.

More space for social distancing is also being created and bosses have moved to reassure patients that the hospital is safe to visit now health services have restarted.

Hospital bosses said rebooting services was "always likely to be harder than pausing them" and that doing so had caused some complications.

"This winter won’t be ‘business as usual’ for us in this very different world," said Jonathan Coulter, deputy chief executive of the hospital trust.

He added: “As we do every year, we’re putting in place our plans for winter, working together across all local healthcare services. Obviously, this year we have the added factor of Covid-19 to factor in, which presents its own unique and new challenges.

"That said, we are all determined to do all we can to provide good care for patients and work together to do this. Colleagues both in hospital and in community services have been absolutely fantastic throughout the pandemic and despite the ongoing challenges, continue to be."

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On 27 September, a coronavirus patient died at the hospital for the first time in more than two months.

It took the hospital's coronavirus death toll up to 83, according to NHS England figures.

Mr Coulter added: “We appreciate that this may be a worrying time for patients and we are doing everything we can to ensure we see all our patients as soon as possible.

"We hope that people will understand that Covid-19 has changed how we work and it impacts on waiting times for appointments, for example."

By Jacob Webster, Local Democracy Reporter