Here’s how Sussex hospitals dealt with the heavy winter pressure over the last week

The average general and acute bed occupancy at the Trust’s hospitals was 96.4 per cent, over ten percent higher than the 85 per cent capacity that hospitals deem to be too busy.

A total of 1,600 general and acute beds were occupied over the past week.

There were 1,217 staff absences at the Trust over the past week, a rise of 0.29 per cent from the week before.

Of those absences 395 of them were Covid related, a rise of 6.5 per cent from the week before.

NHS National Medical Director Professor Stephen Powis said: “We still had around 70,000 NHS staff off sick each day last week, as the number of ambulances taking patients to A&E was up again on the previous seven days, making it the busiest week since the start of December.

“Despite this, hardworking staff are doing everything possible to get people home to their loved ones and out of hospital safely, as hundreds more beds were freed up each day compared to the week before – all while delivering as many routine checks and procedures as possible, including vital diagnostic checks, as staff continue to make inroads delivering treatments disrupted by Covid.

“It remains as important as ever for people to get their lifesaving Covid vaccines if they haven’t done so already – and the NHS is here for you if have a health problem, so please go to 111 online and call 999 when it is a life threatening condition.”

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