Myself and other Northamptonshire MPs have recently been informed of changes to hospital capacity in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Hundreds of hospital beds have been freed up in Northamptonshire as the county’s health, social care and public sector organisations continue their significant joint efforts to cope with the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Kettering and Northampton General Hospitals have undergone a joint effort to make sure there is enough capacity to care for the expected increase in people with coronavirus over the coming weeks. This has included urgently discharging in-patients who are medically well enough to leave hospital. As of 11.30am on Wednesday 1 April, there were 385 beds available across the two hospitals in readiness for an increase in demand. Patients safely discharged from hospital as part of the drive to free up beds in Northamptonshire have either returned home, or have transferred to local care homes and into the care of NHS community services.
Meanwhile, the Northamptonshire Strategic Coordination Centre’s hospital transfer and capacity team is continuing to make further plans to provide additional capacity as the situation progresses. More information about capacity and other measures being taken by Northamptonshire's hospitals will be made available when possible.