Oxygen supply in a hospital overloaded with Covid-19 patients reached a critical situation, and doctors decided to reduce the target range for oxygen levels in patients’ blood.
In a document shared with the BBC on Monday, the National Health Service (NHS) said oxygen supplies at Southend Hospital were critically low as doctors struggled to keep Covid-19 patients alive.
As a result, the hospital lowered the target range for oxygen levels of patients from 92 percent to a baseline of 88-92 percent.
“It is safe to maintain saturations within this target range, and no patient will suffer harm as a result,” the document, which was shared with health workers in the front line, reads.
Yvonne Blucher, the managing director of the hospital, said the NHS was “Work to manage” the situation.
“We are experiencing a huge demand for oxygen due to the increasing number of inpatients with Covid-19, and we are working to manage it,” she said.
In late December, the North Middlesex University Hospital Trust reported that the large number of patients he treated “Placed a tension” on the oxygen system.
The Trust claims that its 200 patients consume 2400 liters of oxygen per minute, close to the hospital’s 3000 liter ceiling.
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Earlier Monday, England’s medical chief Chris Whitty warned that the United Kingdom “Most dangerous time” of the pandemic in the coming weeks.
This comment was repeated by the national medical director of NHS England, Stephen Powis, who said that the pressure on the NHS is “Possibly going to get worse” and that it will take months for the vaccination program to have an impact on coronavirus rates.
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