13 more patients die after testing positive for coronavirus at Croydon University Hospital

By Tara O’Connor, Local Democracy Reporter

The deaths of 13 more people who tested positive for coronavirus at Croydon University Hospital have been announced by NHS England.

As of Tuesday, March 31, 54 patients who have tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) at the hospital have died.

As of Wednesday afternoon a further 563 who tested positive for the virus have died in the UK, bringing the total reported to 2,352.

Although 13 is one of the higher numbers of reported deaths in the country, it is important to note that they took place over a week between March 21 and March 30.

And while the Croydon Health Services NHS Trust is not going into details about the deaths at the trust, a spokesman said: “Our deepest thoughts are with the families of all the patients affected and we would ask that their privacy is respected at this time.”

The hospital in London Road is one of the London hospitals that have been hardest hit.

There are a number of reasons that this could be, including the fact that the hospital has a large catchment area and Croydon is London’s second most populated borough with more than 385,000 residents.

Last week, Elaine Clancy, chief nurse at the trust said that critical care capacity at the hospital was being bulked up to prepare for a surge in cases.