NHS confirms three more coronavirus deaths at Northampton General Hospital

Three more coronavirus deaths have today been confirmed at Northampton General Hospital.

NHS England included the information in Tuesday's daily bulletin that two patients died at NGH last Thursday (November 5) and another on Friday.

All three had either tested positive for Covid-19 within the previous 28 days or had the virus mentioned on their death certificate.

Today's sad news takes the total to 30 deaths among coronavirus patients at the county's two acute NHS Trusts — 20 at Northampton and ten at Kettering General Hospital — since early October.

Northamptonshire has seen record rises in the number of positive Covid-19 tests during the last week with labs confirming 200-plus new cases on each of the last six days.

Deborah Needham, Chief Operating Officer at NGH, told last Friday's weekly Covid-19 media briefing that the hospital is prepared for the number of patients requiring treatment to keep rising — and that routine operations and appointments are continuing unaffected.

"Both our hospitals are operating at a very high occupancy level and we are expecting numbers of patients with Covid to increase over next few weeks and into winter.

"We have some robust escalation measures in place and this includes increasing bed capacity through the winter as it becomes needed."

"At present we are continuing with all of our routine elective operations and out-patients. So patients should continue to attend appointments as planned and if something is urgent or immediately life-threatening please do come to A&E."

Covid-19 was already linked to 311 deaths in Northampton and 220 in Kettering between March and August.

A further 157 coronavirus-related deaths in county care homes have also been notified by the Care Quality Commission. The latest, on November 2, was revealed in figures released by the Office for National Statistics today.