Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board has confirmed the outbreak of Covid-19 at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor is now over.

 

49 cases of Covid-19 were linked to the outbreak at the hospital in February, which affected five adult wards. The majority of elective surgery was postponed in order to contain the virus.

Mandy Jones, Director of Nursing at Ysbyty Gwynedd, said: “It has now been 28 days since any new positive cases of COVID-19 were identified as part of the outbreak at Ysbyty Gwynedd. As a result, we have declared that the outbreak is now closed.

“We would like to thank our staff for their support, professionalism and diligence in helping to manage the outbreak. Our thoughts are with the families and patients who have been affected.

“Despite restrictions easing across Wales, COVID-19 still remains a significant risk. We will remain vigilant and continue to maintain stringent infection prevention standards at all times throughout our hospital to keep patients and staff as safe as possible.

“We are also grateful to our community who continue to follow the guidelines that has helped to reduce the community prevalence, which in turn has helped us over these last few difficult months.”

Restarting Planned Care

A statement on the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board’s official website regarding restarting planned care said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on NHS services. Unfortunately this has been no different for us in North Wales. As a result we have had to postpone a significant amount of routine elective treatments in order to care for people with COVID-19 and to care for people with suspected or diagnosed cancer as our main priority.

“There are currently over 40,000 patients awaiting treatment over 52 weeks across North Wales, and as we begin to restart planned care our focus will be on those people who are most in need of urgent treatment. We recognise that this has had a significant impact on many people waiting for an appointment or treatment and we sincerely apologise for this.

“As the pressure on our services has reduced and we are seeing fewer cases of COVID-19, we are now at a stage to restart those elements of routine non-urgent care that have been paused, and begin to catch up on the backlog of people waiting. This information is to let you know that we aim to reschedule elective appointments/treatments as soon as we possibly can.  As the pandemic has caused a significant increase to waiting times for many people we do know it will take considerable time for us to see and treat everyone.”

For more information visit: https://bcuhb.nhs.wales/covid-19/restarting-planned-care/