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One in nine patients in hospital with Covid during the first wave caught it after being admitted for something else, a damning study reveals.
Researchers partially blame the tragic toll on early shortages of testing and PPE and a lack of understanding back then of how the virus spread.
But some hospitals had rates up to 25 times higher than others of a similar type, suggesting localised failings of infection control.
Professor Calum Semple, who worked on the study at the University of Liverpool, said: ‘There will be tragedies behind the story. We do know of people that came into hospital for one problem, caught Covid and sadly died’
Experts analysed data on 72,157 patients in 314 UK hospitals who developed symptomatic Covid before August 1 last year
Experts analysed data on 72,157 patients in 314 UK hospitals who developed symptomatic Covid before August 1 last year.
They estimate 11.3 per cent of these infections were acquired in hospital, given the time it takes for an infected person to show symptoms. It means 5,699 to 11,862 patients may have been infected during their hospital stay in the first wave, according to findings published in The Lancet journal.
But the authors write: ‘This is, unfortunately, likely to be an
