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NHS England will move to its highest alert level since midnight tonight.
The executive director of the health service, Sir Simon Stevens, said that the move to level four was in response to a “serious situation ahead”.
There are four incident levels used across the NHS, and level four means that there is “an incident that requires England’s NHS National Command and Control to support the NHS response.”
At level four, NHS England will take over the coordination of the NHS response to the incident, in collaboration with local commissioners.
The general public will not see any difference if you use the NHS, but it means that England’s general NHS body has had to take charge to ensure that all services are adequately supported.
The last time level four was needed was at the beginning of the pandemic, before it was downgraded to level three in July.
Sir Simon announced that the bar was being raised after saying there are “22 hospitals worth” of coronavirus patients in England’s hospitals.
He said there had been a “very substantial” increase in “desperately ill patients in hospitals” in October.
“In many parts of the country, we are now seeing more patients hospitalized for coronavirus and in intensive care than we saw in the first peak of April,” he added.
Sir Simon said the NHS wants to “minimize” the “spiraling out of control” coronavirus so that other services are not disrupted.
“The facts are clear, once again we are facing a serious situation,” he added.
“This is not a situation that no one wants to find themselves in, the worst pandemic in a century, but the fact is that the NHS is here.
“The public can help us help you so that our fantastic staff – our nurses, our doctors, our paramedics – can continue to care for you and your family there when you need it.”
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The head of NHS England also said he believed the UK should “hopefully” receive one or more COVID-19 vaccines in the early part of next year.
“In anticipation of that, we are also preparing the NHS to be ready to start administering COVID vaccines before Christmas, if available,” he said.
“We reached an agreement with the GPs to make sure they will, and this week we will write to the GPs’ offices to prepare them to start at Christmas if the vaccine is available.”
Sir Simon said he supported the government’s four-week shutdown, which will begin on Thursday, and said it would mean the health service should be able to avoid postponing routine operations.
The government is expected to comfortably win a Commons vote on the restrictions, as Labor backs them, despite several Tory rebels saying they will vote against the measures.
