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Hospitals were ordered to release all possible beds for the growing number of Covid patients amid fears of a high death toll from the disease in January.
NHS England has warned that the entire health service will have to remain on their highest alert until at least the end of March due to the ongoing influx of very ill patients, exacerbated by the new strain of coronavirus.
It comes as NHS trust heads in England said the intense pressures they were facing were “extremely challenging” and that hospitals had almost as many Covid patients now as in April. “As we approach the new year, we are seeing a real increase in pressure on NHS services, particularly in London and the South East,” said Saffron Cordery, Deputy Executive Director of NHS Providers.
In a six-page letter to NHS care providers on December 23, the heads of health services said: “With the increase in the number of patients hospitalized for Covid-19 in almost all parts of the country and the new risk posed by the variant strain of the virus, you should continue to plan on the basis that we will remain in a level four incident for at least the remainder of this financial year and the NHS trusts should continue to safely mobilize all available augmentation capacity for the next few weeks. “
UK Covid Cases
A consultant from Southampton General Hospital said: “The footprint of our general intensive care unit is now completely full of Covid patients. We have expanded our ICU with 10 additional beds to accommodate ICU patients from both Portsmouth and Kent as they are in distress. [The situation] it’s under control so far, but unpleasant and scary. “
Dr Rupert Pearse, a senior intensive care specialist in London, said the recent surge in infections would inevitably lead to more hospitalizations and deaths in the coming weeks. He tweeted: “As with the first wave, the sharp increase in people testing positive for Sars-CoV-2 will be followed by a sharp increase in hospital admissions for Covid-19 and then a similar increase in excess deaths in January. “
Doctors at the hospital warned that the general understaffing of the service could pose a risk to patients.
“It’s no surprise, but still discouraging, to hear that the NHS will be at ‘level 4’ for months given the rate of infections versus the rate of vaccinations and that it will probably take four weeks from the first dose to immunity.” said Dr. Nick Scriven, the immediate past president of the Society for Acute Medicine.
“The surge will mean mobilizing any usable bed area and stretching staff to care for patients there, often outside of the staff’s ‘normal comfort zone’, for example sick medical patients in surgical rooms, or even opening areas ‘inactive’ and expanding staff with fewer than what is normally considered optimal or even safe. And this, of course, will mean canceling elective care again, ”Scriven said.
In their letter, NHS Improvement Executive Director Amanda Pritchard and Julian Kelly, Chief Financial Officer of NHS England, told hospitals that where possible they should refer patients who need surgery to local private health facilities, discharge as many inpatients as possible and prepare for Nightingale field hospitals. open.
In a vivid illustration of the pressures hospitals are facing, London’s Royal Free Hospital, which receives around 12 new Covid inpatients every day, canceled all non-emergency surgeries until mid-February and restricted holidays. of staff.
He has become “overwhelmed,” said one doctor. “All groups of personnel, from porters to surgeons, had their licenses canceled as of December 21. From now on, only a maximum period of five days is allowed, including holidays. He basically canceled the staff’s Christmas break. They also canceled all non-emergency surgeries again until mid-February. So the hospital is not really managing. The 12 Covid admissions a day have quickly overwhelmed the place, ”they said.
Basildon Hospital in Essex is also known to be under great pressure, admitting dozens of Covid-positive patients a day on a few days. The board of health of the University of Cardiff and Vale in Wales issued a plea in Twitter for medical students and NHS staff to assist in their critical care department. He later said that he had secured the volunteers he needed, but that the unit “remains very busy due to Covid-19 and winter pressures” and that staffing remains “a challenge.”
Dr Sonia Adesara, PhD in London, tweeted: “My hospital currently has no ITU beds. There is no spare capacity for CPAP (non-invasive ventilation). I’ve spent the last 12 hours caring for people in their 50s, 60s, or 70s who are on the highest level of oxygen we can give. Trying to keep them breathing until we can release capacity.“
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