More than 100 people have now died at Croydon University Hospital with Covid-19

By Tara O’Connor, Local Democracy Reporter

More than 100 people who have tested positive for Covid-19 have now died at Croydon University Hospital.

A further 15 people died at Croydon over the weekend, according to latest figures.

Broken down, this was four deaths on Friday, nine on Saturday and two on Sunday.

This means that as of Monday a total of 101 people who have tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) have died at Croydon.

With an increase in the number of patients suffering from the virus at the hospital, Croydon Health Services Trust has had to change the way it does things.

Normally, the hospital has two critical care wards, a general intensive care unit (ITU) with eight beds, and a high dependency unit (HDU) with seven beds with the capacity to ventilate up to 14 patients.

But now intensive care capacity at the hospital has been tripled with more ventilators drafted in.

On Thursday, chief nurse Elaine Clancy, who is leading the trust’s response to Covid-19, said: “We need everyone to play their part in the fight against coronavirus by staying at home, following the guidance on social distancing and washing their hands.”

On Monday furloughed British Airways cabin crew joined the hospital in a bid to freeing up doctors and nurses to focus on caring for patients.

Their tasks include changing beds and helping patients to keep in touch with their families using digital technology.