THERE are currently no Covid-positive patients in beds at the health trust which covers Whitchurch.

Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust CEO Patricia Davies says there are no current outbreaks within its services and no Covid-positive patients in its hospital beds, meaning deployed staff have been brought back to their day jobs to “focus on clearing waiting lists and backlog”.

The board will discuss her report when it meets on Thursday, June 3.

It will also receive a report from governance director Michael Wuestefeld-Gray, who says 93 per cent of its workforce have been vaccinated, including nearly all of those classed as “clinically extremely vulnerable”.

“The trust is engaging with the small number who have expressed vaccine hesitancy,” he adds.

Ms Davies writes: “You will have seen that the Indian variant has been detected in a number of local authority areas including Telford and Wrekin, with surge testing taking place in Newport to manage transmissions.

“After the discovery of the Indian variant, the local authority has reported a positive response to calls for people to come forward for testing, and is encouraging everyone who is eligible to take up the offer of a vaccine.”

She adds that “at the time of writing there are no outbreaks within trust services” and “no Covid-19-positive patients in our community hospital beds.

“Staff vacancy rates related to both Covid-19 symptoms and the requirement to isolate have also fallen sharply over the last months,” she writes.

“As a result of this reduction in pressures on our services we have been able to bring back staff who had been redeployed into their usual roles and commence with a focus on clearing any waiting lists and backlog we have within our planned services.”

Mr Wuestefeld-Gray writes: “Ninety-three per cent of staff have been vaccinated and, of those that are not vaccinated, the trust is engaging with the small number who have expressed vaccine hesitancy.”

Statistics in Mr Wuestefeld-Gray’s report show that, while 92.7 per cent of the total workforce have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccination, the rate is 82.4 per cent among black, Asian or minority ethnic staff, but 98 per cent of clinically extremely vulnerable staff.