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A small district hospital where more than a third of all coronavirus deaths among hospitalized patients in England occurred last week is battling the UK’s first known fatal outbreak of hospital-acquired Covid-19, The Guardian may reveal. .
The NHS has launched an investigation after an unknown number of patients died from Covid-19 after becoming infected while in hospital being treated for another illness.
The deaths occurred in the week to September 10 at Tameside General Hospital in Greater Manchester, which saw a sudden and unexplained spike in Covid deaths that increased its death toll to 18, up from six the previous week.
The 18 patients who died accounted for more than a third of the total 52 deaths from coronavirus across all hospitals in England, the most recent NHS data released on Tuesday shows. Two other people died of Covid at the Tameside hospital over the weekend.
The incident is believed to be the first time the NHS has confirmed that a hospital-acquired Covid outbreak has cost lives.
Public Health England (pdf) defines an outbreak as two or more linked cases or deaths, or a situation where there is a higher than expected infection rate.
It will raise serious concerns about infection control testing and procedures as hospitals prepare for an increase in admissions.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in England rose again on Tuesday to 3,105, up from 2,621 on Monday.
It is unclear how many of the 18 Tameside patients died after contracting Covid-19 following their admission to receive treatment for a different medical condition.
However, well-located NHS sources confirmed that some of them were the result of what is known as a nosocomial infection – transmission within a hospital. All 18 are believed to be elderly and had one or more underlying diseases.
Public Health England and Tameside Hospital are now examining the medical history of each of the 18 deaths to identify how many had Covid when they arrived and how many contracted it after being admitted.
An official with knowledge of the investigation said: “The deaths fall into three categories: community transmission, probable hospital-acquired infection, and actual hospital-acquired infection. There are a few of each so far. We know that some were related to the hospital acquired Covid outbreak. “
“I am really concerned to hear about so many deaths at the Tameside hospital,” said Dr. Kailash Chand, president of Tameside Healthwatch, a local patient watchdog who was a GP in the area for 20 years.
“I am also concerned to learn of this hospital-acquired Covid outbreak in Tameside, which is well known to pose a significant risk to hospitals and their patients. There has to be an investigation and we must learn the lessons if something has gone wrong here. “
Hospital sources said that “most” of the 18 people had Covid before admission and that the number of deaths related to the nosocomial outbreak was “low.” They stressed that the patients involved were already in poor health before becoming infected.
Some of the 18 deaths upon arrival were found to have Covid but did not have any symptoms, a hospital source said. “We test all patients who come in. Some of them came back as positives [after they were tested] even though they were asymptomatic. “
The spread of Covid presents a recognized risk for patients who are in wards or receiving intensive care, including the risk of death. It may involve someone becoming infected due to transmission from a healthcare worker or patient and may be related to inadequate infection control procedures in hospitals.
Up to a fifth of hospitalized patients with Covid-19 may have been infected that way, according to recent research by Public Health England (PHE).
In May, Boris Johnson told Conservative MP Laurence Robertson, whose father Jim had just died of hospital-acquired Covid, that the problem was one of “twin epidemics”, along with nursing home deaths, that it needed urgent action. .
Tameside has had an unusually high number of deaths recently. The Guardian analysis shows that it accounted for almost one in four of the coronavirus deaths in UK hospitals in the three weeks to September 10: 32 out of 134. The worst day in the hospital came on Monday 7 September, when it recorded five Covid-related deaths, out of a total of nine in all hospitals in England.
In a statement, the Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, said: “We are working with Public Health England and other partners to fully understand the recent number of deaths. But we know that our local population is older, with many pre-existing health conditions, and that the prevalence of Covid-19 is higher in our local area.
“We continue to prioritize infection prevention at our hospital and patients must continue to attend their appointments with a face covering, maintain social distancing, and wash their hands regularly.”
Following the deaths, England’s NHS officials visited the hospital last week to assess its infection control procedures, which include testing of all admitted patients and staff wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment for the risk they face. represents the area in which they work. They were satisfied with the hygiene. The practices were robust enough, a hospital source said, adding: “There were no problems.”
Tameside is one of the 10 districts that make up Greater Manchester, which is one of the areas in the UK still under local Covid-related restrictions, which vary between districts. Tameside has the fourth highest rate of infections in England. It currently has 98 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, almost four times more than the average of 26 in England.
