Coronavirus reporting anomaly raises alarm bells - but no time for complacency in Aberdeenshire as admissions continue to rise
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North-east health bosses continue to urged people to follow Covid-19 measures after NHS Grampian recorded a continuing rise in the rate of hospital admissions over the weekend.
On Friday, considerable alarm was raised when data released by the Scottish Government showed 187 people in hospitals in the region with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 on Friday, May 1.
This was up from 119 recorded the previous day, an alarming 57 per cent hike in hospital admissions in just 24 hours.
However on Saturday, the figure had dropped down to 125, prompting multiple enquiries to both NHS Grampian and the Scottish Government by the Advertiser over this seemingly erratic fluctuation in patient numbers.
On Saturday afternoon with the publication of that days figures for all health boards, the Friday statistics have been revised from 187 back down to 119, while Saturday. May 2 shown that 125 were currently in hospital with confirmed or suspected cases of Covid-19.
That figure has risen again today, Sunday, May 3 to 147, showing there is a worrying increase again in the rate of admissions to hospital.
A spokeswoman for NHS Grampian said that discussion was taking place with the Scottish Government over the issue of the statistics and no combination of submitted figures would have given the 187 admissions that were reported.
In return a government spokeswoman said: "The figures for NHS Grampian have been revised because as of April 29 health boards started to test all patients aged over 70 for covid-19 on admission to hospital.
"Given this has just started the Scottish Government continues to work with boards, including NHS Grampian, on the methodology for recording any suspected covid-19 cases to ensure consistency in reporting cases across all boards as a result of this change."
NHS Grampian’s previous high came on Wednesday April 24, when 100 people were hospitalised having been steady in the preceeding days at around 86 people in hospital.
There have also been some instances of lower numbers including last Saturday that number dropped to 88.
NHS Grampian reiterated the point that while lockdown measures are challenging, the public must stick with them to ensure this virus does not spread further.
