NHS Dumfries and Galloway revealed some of the effects of the pandemic on their services in their annual review, submitted to the Scottish Government.
In 2020/21 there were 4015 cases identified locally through Test and Protect, and 453 admissions to hospital with covid.
Many departments switched to remote consultations with patients and, on average, every month between June 2020 and December 2021 there were 3000 phone consultations at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary and 1200 video consultations, accounting for 20 per cent of all outpatient appointments.
Responding to the review, Public Health Minister Maree Todd said: “We are most grateful for the outstanding efforts of local staff to adapt and maintain key services during 2020/21 for the benefit of local people, in the face of unrelenting pressures.
“We must also recognise that the initial pandemic response, which necessitated the prioritisation of covid, emergency and urgent care, meant that there has inevitably been a regrettable increase in non-covid health and wellbeing harms, alongside a significant and growing backlog of non-urgent, planned care; and that, despite the success of the vaccination programme, we face ongoing risks around the disease, alongside a range of other pressures that were likely to have a significant impact on the winter period and beyond.”
