Staff shortages in one of Sydney’s best-resourced hospitals have sent nurse-to-patient ratios soaring as new data shows the share of Covid patients occupying intensive care beds has shot up from one in five beds to one in three in just one week. Unlike in previous Covid waves, the hospital’s HDU is now housing Covid-positive patients even though it does not have specialised air treatment to filter out the virus. “We’ve got a few patients with literally no immune system,” the nurse said. “They can die if they got [Covid] pretty instantly.”Fresh figures from the Critical Intelligence Unit of the NSW health department show that as of 9 January the share of staffed ICU beds occupied by Covid patients across the whole state stood at 33%, up from 19.9% on 2 January. For those in ICU, the average stay was 4.7 days compared with six days a week earlier.

Source: The Guardian January 13, 2022 01:59 UTC