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11
Jul
‘I don’t think we know the full impact’: Harrogate hospital CEO on the legacy of covid
The chief executive of Harrogate District Hospital has warned that the country continues to face a legacy of health issues as a result of the covid pandemic.
Speaking to the Stray Ferret, Jonathan Coutler said Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital and Ripon Community Hospital, had seen increased demand in areas such as child development.
Mr Coulter added that other areas, such as mental health services for young people, were also seeing more demand.
The coronavirus pandemic saw the UK face multiple lockdowns, which restricted people to their homes, and saw 230,000 people die as a result of the virus.
Legacy of covid
Mr Coulter said the impact of the lockdowns on those born during the pandemic was having a knock-on affect on hospital services.
He said the hospital had already dealt with the “short-term” impact of covid, such as waiting times for surgery.
The hospital saw waiting lists for operations hit highs of 16,000 in 2021 as it was forced to halt procedures due to the pandemic.
A covid marshal in Harrogate.
However, Mr Coulter said the full impact of the pandemic on hospitals was yet to be felt.
He said:
There are a whole load of societal things that will impact on health.
I don’t think we know yet as a country the full impact of it [covid]. We do in the short term, like trying to get waiting times down.
Meanwhile, Mr Coutler said the effects of covid were being felt in some hospital services.
He said the legacy of the pandemic was affecting child development in areas such as speech and language.
Mr Coulter said:
In some of our children’s services now, we have a speech and language therapist in the team which we would never have had 10 years ago. Those sorts of things you have to respond what is coming to you.
When you speak to people in education, the support that children who were born during covid need is enormous.
Mr Coulter’s comments come as Amanda Spielman, chief executive of Ofsted, raised similar concerns over the impact on child development in 2022.
In a report on the recovery of children from the pandemic, Ms Spielman said there were “lingering challenges” and the development of young children was “particularly worrying”.
The report added that nurseries had flagged babies with "limited vocabularies" and struggling to understand facial expressions.
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