Deaths of 28 Coronavirus Patients Confirmed at Charing Cross and St Mary's
As number of people testing positive in Hammersmith & Fulham rises to 188
Charing Cross Hospital
The deaths of 28 coronavirus patients at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington and Charing Cross Hospital in Fulham Palace Road have been confirmed.
New figures published on 2 April 2 NHS England show the tragic fatalities recorded between March 21 and March 30 at the two hospitals, which were grouped together because they are both managed by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
NHS England said in some cases, delays with issuing death certificates and contacting next of kin have meant the following data does not reflect the precise day when each patient died. Instead, it only shows the day that each patient’s death was officially recorded.
Date/number of fatalities at the Trust:
March 21: one
March 22: one
March 23: one
March 24: one
March 25: two
March 26: three
March 27: two
March 28: four
March 29: six
March 30: five
A total of 61 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 have now died at the two hospitals since the outbreak began.
The statistics were published shortly before Public Health England’s national figures for April 2 were released.
As of April 2 there were 188 confirmed coronavirus cases in Hammersmith & Fulham out of 9,291 cases in Greater London. out of 28,221 cases across England.
So far 2,698 deaths have been recorded in England.
However, an accurate figure of how many people have contracted the virus is likely to be many times higher, as testing has been available for severely-ill patients and a minority of NHS staff.
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, which also includes Hammersmith and Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospitals in Du Cane Road, White City and the Western Eye in Marylebone Road has closed its ward to visitors and replaced face to face outpatient appoinements with telephone calls due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The trust says: " To help prevent the spread of infection, we’re really sorry that we are not currently allowing visitors in our hospitals.
" This has been a difficult decision to make but we no longer feel we can prevent the risk of spreading the infection if we continue to allow visitors to our hospitals."
The trust adds that visitors will only be considered in exceptional circumstances, including:
for a patient at end of life
one regular carer for a patient with additional needs, such as a patient with dementia
one parent/guardian for a child
one birth partner
Visitors are asked to please speak to the nurse or midwife in charge of the ward or unit to consider any exceptional arrangements.
Concerning hospital appointments, the trust says: "We are continuously revising our plans to help us concentrate our efforts on those who need care most urgently and best protect our patients and staff from the risk of coronavirus.
"Unless we have asked you to come into hospital, most face-to-face outpatient appointments are being replaced by telephone or video consultations.
"For some services such as maternity, we will contact you to discuss if there are any changes to your booked appointment, otherwise please attend as planned."
Within Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which includes Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in Fulham Road and West Middlesex University Hospital in Isleworth, five patients who had tested positive for coronavirus died between 30 March and 1 April.
The trust has also closed its wards to visitors, apart from exceptional circumstances and says most outpatient appointments are either carried out by phone or video, or rescheduled.
The trust adds that non-urgent elective or daycase procedures will be delayed and patients will hear in advance if this is the case.
Written with contributions by Owen Sheppard - Local Democracy Reporter
April 2, 2020