Local Hospital Trust Has Nation's Highest Covid-19 Death Toll
North West London Trust runs Ealing and Central Middlesex Hospitals
Ealing Hospital
April 1, 2020
A further 38 people suffering from coronavirus have died at a North West London hospital trust.
The patients had been treated at London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs Northwick Park, Ealing and Central Middlesex hospitals.
The deaths recorded between March 18 and 30 brings the total number to 93 – the highest death rate recorded by any one trust in the UK.
NHS England confirmed that 1,651 people have died from the respiratory disease in England, and 468 deaths were in London.
A London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust spokesperson said, “Sadly, we can confirm that a further 38 patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 passed away between Wednesday 18 March and Monday 30 March. Our thoughts remain with those people who have lost loved ones.
“As reported nationally, the NHS expects to see high numbers of patients admitted with Covid-19 and along with hospitals across the country we have stepped up our support in response to the expected demand, including the number of intensive care beds.
“However, we need everyone to do their bit to help us by staying at home and washing your hands”
The trust previously confirmed deaths had occurred at both Northwick Park, in Harrow, and Ealing hospital.
Northwick Park was among the first designated Covid-19 treatment centres in London, and suffered a critical incident on March 19 due to a lack of critical care beds to battle the virus.
The healthcare provider had since said it was seeing a high number of intensive care unit cases and had “significantly increased” its intensive care capacity at its hospitals.
Some doctors have suggested the demographics of the area has led to a surge in demand at the hospital trust, with a higher elderly population and people with type-2 diabetes being particularly hit by the disease.
Harrow West MP Gareth Thomas told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that there had been calls for more investment into intensive care at Northwick Park hospital before the pandemic had even begun.
“I’ve seen doctors certainly saying there’s an issue of the demography of the area and as I say there’s been concerns about insufficient intensive care and high dependency beds at Northwick Park for a while,” Mr Thomas said.
“You mix those two things up and you can see how you’ve got to the critical incident point at Northwick Park relatively quickly.”
Anahita Hossein-Pour - Local Democracy Reporter