To find out how Mildmay is treating patients with COVID-19, developments with our new homeless pathway, and what is happening to our HIV patients, read these Q&As by our CEO, Geoff Coleman.
When did you first learn that the hospital would be used to treat COVID-19 patients and when did the first patients arrive?
It was around 25 March and the first patient arrived a few days later.
Could you expand on exactly how the hospital is being used to assist these COVID-19 patients and where they come from?
Mildmay is being used in two ways, firstly, to step down patients from NHS Acute Trusts who are taking the brunt of COVID-19 admissions, and secondly, to treat homeless patients who have had COVID-19 and no longer require intensive care and are well enough to complete their recovery in a unit such as Mildmay, before being discharged.
How many COVID-19 patients have been treated admitted to the Mildmay and is the hospital full of patients with coronavirus?
It has been a relatively low number to date.
We have mostly been used as a step-down for other patients to clear those NHS Acute Trust beds, but we currently have seven patients scheduled to be admitted. So we are definitely not full of patients with coronavirus.
Do you know how long Mildmay Hospital and its staff will be used to treat COVID-19 patients?
For at least the next four months.
Does this secure the long-term future of the hospital?
It gives us a chance of a longer-term future. The hospital has the opportunity to demonstrate that we can effectively treat patients who are homeless, thus opening up a new specialism.
Are any patients with HIV still being treated at the hospital? If so how are they being kept separate?
Yes, very much so. Because we have two separate wards, we are able to keep these patients in different areas of the hospital.
However, even if one of the HIV patients were to come in and then have COVID-19, we would be able to keep them isolated because every patient has their own room with bathroom facilities en-suite. This enables us to isolate patients.
Because our specialism is HIV, we operate in the same way as any infectious disease unit would, and our isolation protocols are second to none. This is effectively what we have done for over thirty years and we are very good at it.
In fact, according to the Care Quality Commission, we are one of the fewer than 5 per cent of hospitals that are ‘Outstanding’.
#SaveMildmay is our campaign to prevent Mildmay Hospital from closing
As long as we can survive the current NHS contract funding issues that threaten our mid-to-long-term future and are at the heart of the #SaveMildmay Campaign, we will continue to care for vulnerable patients with advanced HIV-related neurological conditions.
But for now, we are still under threat of closure due to cuts in our NHS funding.
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