How coronavirus has been Sunderland's 'biggest challenge to date' as council boss praises city families for staying home

Patrick Melia spoke to the Sunderland Echo as the region prepares for the completion of the 460-bed hospital, which has been built in an industrial unit near to Washington’s Nissan plant.

Praising the efforts of NHS staff as well as key workers in the social care and voluntary sector, Mr Melia welcomed the importance of the facility for the entire North East region and said it is the best place to help NHS staff deal with the potential overcapacity of current hospitals.

The chief executive also revealed his hopes that we will “never have to use it".

Speaking of the city’s reaction to the Covid-19 outbreak, Mr Melia said: "In Sunderland the response by the hospitals and hospital staff has been fantastic.

"But it is also the social care staff going into vulnerable people's homes to make sure that they are safe and the voluntary and community sectors, who have also been fantastic in terms of its response.

"The hospital response is fantastic, as is the response of a lot of other range of sectors whose job is to protect the NHS."

The council boss said that the city council is doing everything it can to support people at this difficult time, working in partnership with the community and voluntary sectors to help residents going forward.

But, despite the authority’s training and preparation for major incidents such a large scale fires and floods, Mr Melia said coronavirus is something “very different” from what his teams have had to deal with before.

“I don't think any council has ever dealt with anything like this,” the chief executive explained.

“This is an international crisis and every authority is being challenged by this. This is the biggest thing we have had to deal with. It is a really challenging time."

And as the UK enters its fourth week of lockdown measures in a bid to prevent the spread of the illness, Sunderland residents have been praised for their efforts to comply with the restrictions.

But, where people are not following the measures the local authority has confirmed it is 'taking appropriate action' when people do not fall in line with the regulations.

Mr Melia added: “I can't guarantee everyone is following the appropriate guidance, but the majority of people are doing the right thing - staying at home and when they are out for the likes of essential shopping they are practicing social distancing."

"I am very clear that we are following the national guidance of staying at home and doing good social distancing. I am confident that as a city we are doing a lot of the right things to support people in the community."

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