Stark warning from health chief - ‘more will die’ in surge

Speaking at a virtual meeting of the Southern Health and Social Care Trust Board, the Chief Executive of the Trust, Shane Devlin, spelled out the grim reality of the situation to board members.

“I cannot give a guarantee that COVID-19 will not exist in my hospitals,” said Mr Devlin.

“The fact it incubates and we don’t know it exists until it is contagious means I cannot guarantee that. We have controls in place and have PPE stocks but unfortunately I cannot guarantee that and I think quite the opposite.

“I think we are heading for a considerable surge in regards to COVID-19.

“As a result, we will have a large number of patients with COVID-19 in our hospitals and a large number of them will die.

“More people will die and unfortunately I cannot guarantee anything other than that.”

The Non-Executive Chair of the Southern Health and Social Care Trust, Roberta Brownlee said while comments like these may be difficult to hear, “that is the reality of the situation”.

The Chief Executive also provided an update on recent COVID-19 outbreaks at Craigavon Area Hospital and Daisy Hill Hospital and apologised to the 11 families who have lost a loved one as a result.

“I want to put on record that there are 11 families grieving and I want to say how sorry I am as Chief Executive that this has happened,” said Mr Devlin.

“In terms of the outbreak in Craigavon’s emergency department and ward three south, staff have returned or are returning and there is no outbreak left on these wards.

“In haematology at Craigavon and the male medical ward at Daisy Hill there is no further growth in the COVID-19 positive numbers and we are managing the outbreak.

“It is not growing but the consequences of the outbreak have meant that 11 people have died and there are still some people in hospital who have been a part of this outbreak.

“So, as much as we can say we are in control, there is still the potential for some terrible consequences.”

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