A PLEA has gone out from Cornwall’s NHS staff as care homes and hospitals struggle to deal with the Omicron variant.
Ten wards across acute and community care in Cornwall have had to close areas, after patients who tested negative for the coronavirus on admission later turned out to be infected with the virus.
And 50 care homes in the county say they are unable to accept new people due to recent Covid-19 cases among residents or staff.
GP, pharmacy and mental health services are also extremely stretched, and ambulances are experiencing lengthy waiting times to get people into hospital.
The impact of COVID-19 in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has consistently been a few weeks behind the national picture since the start of the pandemic, and this is certainly the case at present, says NHS Kernow’s chief nurse Natalie Jones.
“Omicron transmission is causing significant problems for all our services and preventing the movement of people from one aspect of their care to the next,” she said.
“Although overall numbers are lower, it’s the busiest we have been at any point in the pandemic because it’s happening at the time of year when we have usual winter pressures on services as well.
“We know we have asked before, but we really do need to call upon our population to help us by making the right choices if they need help with injuries or illness, and to only use 999 or the emergency department if it is a life-threatening situation.
“As always, we ask people to consider if it is something they can treat themselves, can speak to a pharmacist about, or contact their own GP. If they aren’t sure which service to use, please call NHS 111 or visit nhs.uk for expert advice.”
Families and friends are being asked if they can support someone to go home from hospital sooner, by offering them a helping hand with everyday needs such as shopping, meals, cleaning and getting dressed. Support can be offered to people leaving hospital, such as a grant towards equipment or personal care.
Anyone who’s not yet had their 1st, 2nd or booster jab is also being encouraged to get vaccinated. There are lots of vaccination sessions across Cornwall during the coming weeks - visit www.kernowccg.nhs.uk for details of sessions.