HEALTH bosses at NHS Dumfries & Galloway say their healthcare system is coming "under real pressure", despite the plunge in Covid cases.

In a statement yesterday Carole Morton, general manager for Acute and Diagnostics, said: “Our acute hospitals, in particular, are currently under real pressure.

“Although you might think that the drop in Covid cases would help our position, the moves out of lockdown have seen a really notable increase in admissions to hospital.

“People who maybe haven’t left their homes very much over the last year are now starting to emerge and immunity against the likes of things like tummy bugs can be lowered.

“Another concern is that people are only now coming forward with issues which they’ve been sitting on for some time - we’ve also got people still awaiting non-urgent treatment so hospitals are facing significant pressure."

Jeff Ace, chief executive of NHS Dumfries and Galloway said: “Covid cases in Dumfries and Galloway have reduced significantly from where they were at the start of the year, and the efforts made by everyone together with the vaccination programme have made a real difference.

“However, we’re still going to be living with Covid for some time, and likely with ongoing restrictions, and there are always going to be unknowns, and concerns around the dangers posed by variants.

“We'll also be dealing with the indirect effects of Covid for some time, helping those people who need immediate attention and working to recover our systems and help those people whose treatment and support has been impacted and delayed as a result of the coronavirus.

“We’re hugely grateful for all the efforts and sacrifices that people have made, and we would ask everyone to continue working with us and to appreciate that some of the biggest impacts of Covid on our health and social care systems are only just now starting to be felt.”