Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 1:59 pm on 4 November 2020.
I think that's a really important question, again, to remind ourselves in the Parliament, but also the public that we serve, that the impact isn't just about COVID-related harm. The reason why we introduced the firebreak was to interrupt the rise in admissions and the rise in harm that we are now seeing, that we thought we would see when we introduced the firebreak. And that's because, when you see infection rates go up, there's then a lag from those infections to people going into hospitals. It's why I plan to publish openly the data on over-60s infection rates as well—that's an even more reliable indicator of harm that we're likely to see in hospitals, and I'm afraid also the harm that we will see in, ultimately, the death figures.
The critical care capacity—about a third of our critical care beds are now taken up with treating COVID patients. And COVID patients actually spend a longer period of time in those critical care beds, so it isn't just a number, it's a fact they're likely to be there for longer, and that impacts on our ability to undertake other areas of service, because at this point in the year, we're getting used to the fact that critical care would normally be pretty full because of the fact we see more people who are seriously unwell at this point in the year. And as I said earlier, it will hamper our ability to treat non-COVID patients.
The positive news is, though, that even though we're opening up our field hospitals at present, we're seeing people flow into those and out. There are about three dozen people in the Cwm Taf field hospital, Ysbyty'r Seren, at present. There are people going in and out of there, and I want to pay tribute to all of those people treating people in our mainstream hospitals and in our field hospitals. That recovery and rehabilitation journey is often thanks to nursing staff and working together with therapists. And it's perhaps appropriate at this point to recognise that it's Occupational Therapy Week, for us to recognise the job that they do in keeping us healthy and well, and in particular on the journey to recovery and rehabilitation.