RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Nosocomial spread of COVID-19: lessons learned from an audit on a stroke/neurology ward in a UK district general hospital JF Clinical Medicine JO Clin Med FD Royal College of Physicians SP e173 OP e177 DO 10.7861/clinmed.2020-0422 VO 20 IS 5 A1 Soraya V Jewkes A1 Yimeng Zhang A1 David J Nicholl YR 2020 UL http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/20/5/e173.abstract AB We describe the details of a COVID-19 outbreak in a 25-bedded Birmingham neurology/stroke ward in the early phase of the pandemic (March to May 2020). Twenty-one of 133 admissions (16%) tested positive for COVID-19 and of those, 8 (6% of all admissions to the ward) were determined to be nosocomial. Thus 38% (8/21) of COVID-19 infections were hospital-acquired. Ten of the patients that contracted COVID-19 died; of these three were hospital-acquired cases. Five of the 21 patients had negative swabs prior to receiving a positive test result. This study highlights the importance of appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE) with high-risk patients (including those with stroke and complex brain injury with tracheostomies) and the difficulties of COVID-19 management in a high-risk patient population.