COVID-19: 1 in 10 coronavirus patients contracted the virus while in hospital during the first wave, research suggests | UK news

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New research shows that more than one in 10 patients with COVID contracted the virus during the first wave of the pandemic while being hospitalized for other reasons.

A study of more than 72,000 patients in 314 UK hospitals found that hospital-acquired infections rose by as much as 20% in May last year.

Significantly higher rates of hospital-acquired infections were found for residential community care and mental health hospitals – at 61.9% and 67.5%, respectively – reflecting the prevalence of outbreaks in nursing homes.

Hospitals providing acute or general care had an average rate of 9.7%.

Of those studied, at least 11% were infected after hospitalization.

However, the researchers said this was likely an underestimate, as they did not include patients who may have been infected but who were discharged before they were diagnosed.

Photo: Keri Walters’ mother Caroline contracted the COVID virus while in hospital for surgery

“There must be a ring of steel around the weak.”

“It took my mom,” Keri Walters told Sky News.

Keri, 40, of Birmingham, said her mother, Caroline Walters, 64, was taken to hospital for surgery, but contracted the virus while there and died in April 2020.

“I can’t say a million percent wouldn’t have caught COVID if she hadn’t been in the hospital,” Kerry said.

“But I know that if she came home after the operation like she was supposed to do, I think she would still be here

“I feel angry, there has to be a ring of steel around people at risk in intensive care, in hospital in general.”

Callum Semple, a professor at the University of Liverpool and one of the authors of the research, said: “The reasons for the difference between settings providing the same type of care require urgent investigation to identify and promote best infection control practices.

“The research is now done to see what has been done well and what lessons need to be learned to improve patient safety.”

But Professor Semple added that hospital-acquired infection rates are now “at much lower levels”, “ranging from 2% to 5%”.

In November last year, Sky News learned that an increasing number of people needing treatment for the virus had already contracted it in hospital.

Image: Estimated proportion of COVID patients with hospital-acquired infection based on 72,157 people

There are likely a number of causes for infection, said Dr. Chris Green, an infectious disease expert and one of the study’s authors.

He said: “These include large numbers of patients admitted to hospitals with limited facilities for isolating cases, limited access to rapid and reliable diagnostic tests in the early stages of an outbreak, challenges related to accessing and best using PPE, and our understanding of when patients are most likely to be ill. More contagious in their disease, some misclassification of cases due to atypical symptoms, and an underestimation of the role of airborne transmission.”

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Better infection control practices – along with the use of personal protective equipment and side rooms in hospitals – have reduced these rates.

However, the researchers said there is a need to understand more about hospital transmission in preparations for the winter months.

Dr Chris Hobson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said their learning had improved as the outbreak progressed.

“I understand why people are angry that their relatives and friends have contracted COVID-19 in hospitals or social care settings,” he told Sky News.

“But let’s remember that this is not just a problem in the UK or the NHS, it happens all over the world in terms of health and care.”

The research was published in The Lancet, led by Dr Jonathan Reed of Lancaster University with colleagues from universities including the University of Liverpool, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Imperial College London.

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