Sheffield hospitals could start treating coronavirus patients from neighbouring areas

It comes as NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens revealed a coronavirus patient is admitted to hospital "every 30 seconds" amid huge pressure on bed space in hospitals.

Speaking on the Andrew Marr show, Sir Simon said a "very small number" of patients are being transferred to hospitals in other regions.

No patients have been transferred from London to Sheffield, an NHS England spokesperson told The Star.

They added: “The NHS has tried and tested plans in place to manage significant pressure either from high Covid-19 infection rates and non-Covid winter demands and this has always included mutual aid practices whereby hospitals work together to manage admissions.

“While the NHS is under pressure from rising Covid admissions, particularly in London and the East of England, it is vital that people continue to follow government guidance and do everything possible to reduce transmission.”

As of Monday, 11 January, 340 patients were being treated for Covid-19 by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, which runs the Royal Hallamshire and Northern General, with 25 patients in intensive care.

Dr Jennifer Hill, medical director for operations at the trust, said despite a steady increase each day in the number of patients being admitted, additional capacity was available.

“The NHS has tried and tested plans in place to manage significant pressure either from high COVID-19 infection rates and non-Covid winter demands and this has always included mutual aid practices whereby hospitals work together to manage admissions.

“While the NHS is under pressure from rising Covid admissions, particularly in London and the East of England, it is vital that people continue to follow government guidance and do everything possible to reduce transmission.”

Sir Simon added that people in England are now being vaccinated four times faster than new cases of the virus are being detected.

As of Saturday (16 January), 3,791,594 people in England had received their first vaccination, with 426,102 of these patients now vaccinated twice, NHS England data shows.

There were 282 cases per 100,000 people in Sheffield in the seven days to 11 January. The average area in England had 476.