Hospitals reviewing testing and visiting rules due to new Covid variant

Hospital bosses in Greater Manchester met yesterday (21 December) for a rapid review of testing, site access and visiting rules in light of a new variant of coronavirus in the UK.

Northern Care Alliance (NCA) – the NHS group which runs hospitals and other health care services in Rochdale, Bury, Oldham and Salford – is decidng whether its infection prevention control measures must be strengthened.

It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed that the new variant of the virus, which has spread quickly in London and the south east of England, could be up to 70% more transmissible than other strains of Covid-19.

More than 30 countries have now banned UK arrivals due to concerns about the new variant which has resulted in renewed restrictions over Christmas.

NCA chief executive Raj Jain told the group’s board that this more contagious variant of Covid could be ‘very serious’ for the organisation.

He said: “The executive team met with a specific focus on what we know and what is it we need to do to protect patients and staff in our organisation.

“There’s a series of decisions we need to make. At the moment, we need to reinforce compliance with infection prevention control.

“We know the virus is already contagious. If it’s even more contagious, in our environment, that is very serious for us.”

The chief executive told the group’s board at a public meeting on Monday that any new measures will be communicated to the public on Tuesday morning.

Chief nursing officer Libby McManus explained what kind of infection prevention control measures will be reviewed by executives later today.

She said: “Given the news at the weekend, we are today talking and will do a rapid review at first of measures that include patients and staff testing, visiting and access to our sites.”

The Northern Care Alliance is a joint group of two NHS Trusts – Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust.

The group provides a range of health care services including running five hospitals and associated community services – Rochdale Infirmary, Fairfield General Hospital, The Royal Oldham Hospital and Salford Royal.

Joseph Timan, Local Democracy Reporter