Southern Health Trust apologises
The Chief executive of the Southern Health Trust apologises after fourth Covid-19 death.
A fourth haematology patient has died in the Craigavon Area Hospital after testing positive for Covid-19.
Health Chief, Shane Devlin, said that he was “truly sorry for what has happened”. This apology follows an announcement of a level three Serious Adverse Incident (SAI) by the current Health Minister, Robin Swann.
A virus cluster of fourteen patients was discovered last week and seven remain seriously ill. The majority of the positive tests were in the haematology ward, but one was also discovered on the Ward 3 South.
As of writing, twenty-one members of staff across the two affected wards have tested positive for the coronavirus and fifty-six staff are now self-isolating because of their suspected contact with the virus.
The NI death toll for Covid-19 now stands at 567 and the total cases have reached 7,908.
Mr. Devlin told Good Morning Ulster that he and his trust will co-operate with the SAI review, “[we] will be investigating thoroughly to understand what has happened, to make sure we can learn because we need to learn”.
Justin McNulty, the SDLP MLA for Newry and Armagh has called for answers for the families of those who passed away in Craigavon Hospital.
He said, “Their loved ones went into hospital Covid-free and the virus has been transmitted to them inside the ward…. They are really angry about that and feel that their loved ones should still be with them.”
McNulty hopes that the investigation will shed some light on the outbreak and help inform future attempts to stop the spread of the virus in hospital settings.
Currently, the Covid-19 outbreak at the hospital seems to be under control and Chief Devlin said he believes that the most important thing to do now is to understand how the virus infected the hospital wards, and what they can do to avoid it happening again.
