Senior nurse appeals to people to stop coming to Hull Royal Infirmary to ClapForCarers

People are being urged not to come to Hull Royal Infirmary on Thursday night to take part in the national round of applause for NHS staff, carers and key workers.

Staff at the trust are worried that people are making non-essential journeys to take part and they are not observing the the two-metre distancing rule.

Ms Geary, Chief Nurse at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "Our staff are deeply moved by this amazing show of support by the public and we want to say how grateful we are to everyone taking part.

“But we’ve become increasingly concerned that people are coming to hospital just to clap and are putting themselves and others in danger by standing too close to each other, the numbers are increasing week on week.

“We would like to thank you for your fantastic support and you can help the NHS and save lives by staying at home this week.”

The trust - which has also asked the media not to attend - dealt with the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the UK when its Infectious Diseases team, based at Ward 7, Castle Hill Hospital, received the first two patients at the end of January.

Since March 19, 88 people with the virus have died, but more than 200, including 21 who have undergone treatment in intensive care have recovered.

There are still around 130 patients with COVID-19 or suspected of having the virus in the hospitals.

Earlier this week chief operating officer Teresa Cope said the trust had initially anticipated much higher numbers of patients with Covid-19, than had transpired.

She said it appeared that numbers of cases peaked on April 21 - nearly a fortnight before modelling suggested - with figures gradually declining since then.

Mrs Cope, who is leading the trust's Gold Command in response to the outbreak, said they expected Covid-19 patients "in relatively large numbers for the forseeable future" but their concerns had shifted in some respects to those patients who were not turning up to A&E and may be suffering from symptoms of stroke and other urgent conditions..