Covid hospital admissions: 16 England areas with most Covid patients in hospital for over a year

Sixteen individual NHS hospital trusts saw the highest number of Covid-positive patients for at least a year, NationalWorld analysis of the most recent figures has found.

Three regions of England are now reporting the highest number of patients in hospital with Covid for more than a year.

Eastern England joined the South East and South West in recording patient levels last seen in February 2021, passing the peaks reached in the previous surge of infections at the start of 2022.

On 23 March, a total of 13,248 patients in hospitals across England had Covid, and this figure has since increased to 15,1411 as of 19 March, according to the UK Covid dashboard.

However, NHS England data shows that only 44.5% of patients (5,409 out of 112,142) patients in acute hospitals as of 22 March were primarily being treated for coronavirus, with the rest there primarily because of other conditions.

But all patients who test positive for Covid need to be treated separately from those who are not infected, regardless of whether they are in hospital primarily for Covid, adding to pressures facing the NHS.

While data shows the East of England, South East and South West all have the highest number of Covid patients since June 2021, that is not the case when looking at patients admitted primarily because of coronavirus.

Hospitals in the East and South East saw higher numbers of patients in hospital primarily due to Covid earlier this year in January, but on 21 March the South West recorded the highest number of patients admitted because of Covid since records began last June.

Nationally, there were more overall Covid patients and patients being treated primarily for Covid in hospitals in January than there are now.

The rise in patient numbers is thought to have been driven by the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron, also known as ‘Stealth Omicron’, which has sparked a surge in infections across most of the UK.

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics on Friday (25 March) showed that infections in England are now close to record levels, while Scotland and Wales have reached an all-time high.

Across the UK as a whole, 4.26 million people were likely to have had coronavirus in the week ending 19 March, which is just short of the 4.30 million in the first week of 2022, which was the highest total since estimates began.

Listed are the NHS hospital trusts in England with the most Covid patients for over a year, based on NHS England data up to 23 March. Images are for illustrative purposes only.

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