We are on a journey of recovery from coronavirus, according to the top boss of Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals.
The Trust which runs Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals said it had only fourteen inpatients with confirmed or suspected Covid, compared to a peak of more than 220 in early April.
The hospitals are currently looking after four suspected or confirmed coronavirus patients in intensive care – compared to around 100 at any given time during April.
“The biggest challenge for our organisation now is to treat patients who were unable to be safely treated during the COVID -19 peak,” said Dr Ian Abbs, the Trust’s chief exec in a report yesterday.
The hospitals plan to “cautiously” continue restarting services, after much non-urgent work was suspended.
“It is clear that … we are on a journey to recovery,” he said, “And it will be through the dedication and inspiring work we do collectively that we are able to begin our recovery from the impacts of this global pandemic.”
Managerial officials are also pushing ahead with plans to merge the Trust with the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust, an idea first approved in January.
The merger would see the Royal Bromton move several services to St Thomas’ Westminster Bridge site. An “accelerated” timescale hopes to see the deal done by January 2021.
Separately, the statue of Guy’s founder, Thomas Guy, still proves controversial, with the Trust pledging “further work” to understand the historical facts surrounding Guy’s wealth.
The statue, on the Guy’s campus of King’s College London was removed from public view earlier this year, over claims that he made his money through the slave trade.
The statue is owned by the Guy’s and St Thomas’ charity, while the land on which it sits is owned by King’s College London.
However, no decision has been made about the long-term future of the statue, not that of Robert Clayton outside St Thomas’ Hospital.