Sheffield hospitals have one of the lowest Covid death rates in England, new study finds

One number cruncher has compared deaths from the virus at different trusts across the nation with the total days spent in hospital beds by coronavirus patients there.

@AnalyticsFast found that Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Northern General and Royal Hallamshire hospitals, has the fourth lowest rate of Covid deaths per 1,000 bed days out of 124 trusts analysed.

Health boss ‘strongly suspects’ Sheffield Covid rate will rise when schools reopen next week

According to the research, during the period between March 25, 2020 and February 23 this year Covid patients spent 56,934 days in beds at the trust and 869 people sadly died with the virus, giving a rate of 15.26 deaths per 1,000 Covid bed days.

That is significantly lower than the England average of 24.88, with only Kings College Hospital and Guy’s and St Thomas’, both in London, and The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals trusts having a lower rate.

Dr Jennifer Hill, medical director (operations) at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, said: “We have seen a 70 per cent drop in the number Covid-19 deaths reported in the past six weeks which is good news but any life lost is one too many and our thoughts are always with those who have suffered the loss of a loved one.

Brazilian Covid-19 variant not detected in Sheffield - but health chief raises ‘reinfection’ concerns

“The reasons for the reduction in deaths is probably due to a number of factors including the reducing prevalence of Covid-19 in the community, the early impact of vaccination especially in relation to fewer admissions of older people coming in with Covid and people arriving at hospital earlier now than in the first wave of the pandemic.

“Our teams have also been at the forefront of research and the development of new treatments for the virus and we have seen the benefits of this as shown in recent national statistics which show Sheffield Hospitals has one of the lowest death rates from Covid-19.

“Although we are seeing a continued reduction in cases of Covid-19 we would urge everyone to continue to follow the current rules of hand, face, space and limit contact as far as possible to prevent transmission. Covid has not gone away despite the potential lifting of restrictions over the coming weeks and months.”

Sheffield students fined £80,000 in just one month for breaking lockdown at illegal parties