Recovery stage will soon be a reality at NHS Lanarkshire

And there are number of key signifiers at local level which suggest that the so-called “new normal” is closer to being replaced by what patients could expect before the pandemic took hold back in March.

This week the board has reduced its number of Covid-19 testing centres from two to one, putting the focus on its Hamilton based operation in Douglas Street as the Airdrie hub is wound down.

Dr Linda Findlay of South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnership, revealed that the landmark number of 10,000 patients had been triaged through the service – but that one centre could suffice at this stage.

She explained: “The triage hub will remain in Airdrie, but the plan is to move this to Hamilton when the infrastructure allows.

“The layout of the building in Hamilton will allow the triage hub and assessment centre to remain separate from the rest of the services located there and patient flow is not affected.

“When the assessment centre is moved out of Airdrie Community Health Centre, this area can then be reinstated as services and patients start to return. The same applies to many of the staff who were deployed to these areas, they will return to their day-to-day roles and places of work.

“The service recovery plan takes into account the need to increase the capacity of the service in the event of a second peak of Covid-19. A system is in place to ensure this will happen as soon as possible.”

New figures also indicate that visits to the Accident & Emergency unit at University Hospital Wishaw are returning to normal.

This followed a dramatic drop in the weeks after the UK entered into lockdown, which saw just 617 people attend in the week up to Sunday, March 29.

Now data released by Public Health Scotland shows that A&E attendances at University Hospital Wishaw stood at 1,179 in the week ending June 14, 2020, highlighting a significant rise in attendances

Meanwhile, it has emerged too that home births have been re-instated.

Cheryl Clark, NHS Lanarkshire’s Chief Midwife, said: “As we move forward more of our services will begin to return. The first of these, is being able to offer home births again.”

However, there is evidence to suggest a cautious approach is still being deployed.

For it has emerged that face coverings are now mandatory in hospitals and that volunteers will distribute these to those who enter the premises without them.

A new test and trace service is now being utilised too. For more see Page 6 of this week’s edition.

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