By Major incident declared across Humber region
A major incident has been declared across the Humber region as staff shortages in the health and care sectors reach increasingly worrying heights.
Both Hull and the East Riding are impacted by the ongoing issue.
The Humber Local Resilience Forum (LRF), which includes the NHS, councils and emergency services, reportedly made the decision due to the high levels of absences that are making it difficult for services to run smoothly.
The issue revolves around Covid-19 which is still proving troublesome in certain professions, especially those surrounding health and care.
Although cases are dropping, the number of staff members who are either sick or forced to isolate remains high.
Different agencies are planning to work together to ease the pressures remaining workers are currently facing across the Humber region.
Chair of the Humber LRF, chief fire officer Chris Blacksell, said: “We have implemented a number of measures to try and alleviate some of the pressures.”
But several elderly members of the public are still being forced to join care homes temporarily as the number of available home carers is growing smaller.
Gill Vickers, interim director of adult social services at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “Across the country, the adult social care sector is under immense pressure.
They added: “If we can’t help people… because we don’t have enough care staff, or if we can’t help them to be discharged from hospital, the whole system gums up.”
The news comes after it was revealed that certain ‘left behind’ communities were 46 percent more likely to die from Covid-19.
Some areas have seen an increase in working hours over the years which leaves them more vulnerable with a lower life expectancy rate, so having the appropriate care available is essential.
Chris Long, chief executive of Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Unfortunately, some patients are waiting longer than we would like but NHS teams are doing everything possible to restore capacity when it is safe to do so.”
(Image: Georg Arthur Pflueger)
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