Covid hospital cases: which Greater Manchester hospitals have the highest proportions of the sickest patients?

We have taken a look at the data on how many patients are on ventilators in the city-region’s hospitals.
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Almost one in five Covid-19 patients in some NHS hospitals in Greater Manchester were on ventilators, recent data shows.

Manchester World has taken a look at data analysed by our sister title National World, which has been exploring regional disparities in where people in hospital with coronavirus are falling most seriously ill.

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The numbers show a distinctly varied picture across the city-region, with some areas having far higher proportions of sicker patients needing help with their breathing than others.

What does the data show?

We looked at the daily average numbers of patients in Greater Manchester’s NHS hospitals with Covid-19 and how many were on ventilators between the period 22 September and 28 September.

The highest proportion of sickest patients was at Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which serves Bury, Rochdale and Oldham as well as surrounding towns and villages.

In the period we considered, there was a daily average of 48.6 people in hospital with Covid-19, of whom 8.7 were on mechanical ventilators.

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That means that 18% of people in the Trust’s hospitals were on ventilators.

At Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, 17% of Covid-19 patients were on ventilators.

At Stockport NHS Foundation Trust the rate was 15%, at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust it was 12% and at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh (WWL) Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust it was 11%.

 General view of Stepping Hill Hospital, part of Stockport NHS Foundation. Photo: Anthony Devlin/Getty Images  General view of Stepping Hill Hospital, part of Stockport NHS Foundation. Photo: Anthony Devlin/Getty Images
General view of Stepping Hill Hospital, part of Stockport NHS Foundation. Photo: Anthony Devlin/Getty Images

Although the time period under consideration is the week ending 28 September, this is the most recent data available.

How does this compare to the national picture?

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The Pennine trust was the NHS organisation in Greater Manchester with the highest proportion of the sickest Covid-19 patients, but it was placed 38th on a national ranking list compiled by National World.

The highest proportion of patients with the novel coronavirus on ventilators was at Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Cambridge.

Between 22 September and 28 September 83% of its patients with Covid-19 were on ventilators. However, the overall number of patients was quite small, with a daily average of nine people in hospital.

The second-highest proportion was 51%, recorded at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

National World also found, using a slightly different timeframe, that the North East had three times as many people on ventilators as parts of the South.