With more than 40 patients in Newcastle 's hospitals with Covid-19 and the numbers waiting for treatment at the trust creeping close to 100,000, chief executive Dame Jackie Daniel has spoken of the "inherent pressures" linked to the policy of 'Living with Covid'.
As of May 10, the last day full data is available, there were 42 Covid-19 positive patients at the Freeman and the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle. Though this is more than half of the 100 seen at the end of March, it remains a significant strain.
Dame Jackie also said there were, as of last week, "more than 150 staff" away from work due to contracting Covid-19. Adding to the pressure are huge backlogs for elective hospital procedures. The latest NHS England data shows that as of the end of March, there were 97,382 people waiting for NHS treatment at the city's hospitals - of those almost 30% have been waiting for longer than 18 weeks after being referred.
