Oxygen supplies in a hospital crowded with Covid-19 patients “reached a critical situation,” with doctors making the decision to reduce the target range for patients’ blood oxygen levels.
In a document shared with the BBC on Monday, the National Health Service (NHS) said oxygen supplies are critically low at Southend Hospital, as doctors struggle to keep Covid-19 patients alive.
As a result, the hospital cut the target range for patients’ oxygen levels from 92% to a baseline of 88-92%.
“Keeping saturations within this target range is safe and no patient will be harmed as a result,” the document, which was shared with frontline health professionals, says.
Yvonne Blucher, the hospital’s administrative director, said the NHS was “Working to manage” the situation.
“We are facing a high demand for oxygen because of the growing number of patients admitted to Covid-19 and we are working to manage that,” she said.
In late December, the North Middlesex University Hospital Trust reported that the large number of patients it was treating “I was putting pressure” in the oxygen system.
The Trust said its 200 patients were consuming 2,400 liters of oxygen per minute, near the roof of the 3,000-liter hospital.
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On Monday morning, England’s medical director Chris Whitty warned that the United Kingdom will pass through “Most dangerous time” of the pandemic in the coming weeks.
These comments were echoed by NHS England’s national medical director Stephen Powis, who said the pressure on the NHS is “It will potentially get worse” and that it will be months before the vaccination program begins to impact coronavirus rates.
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