Pittard said that if the public could just see what was happening they “might think twice about partying at New Year and might be encouraged to continue with the ‘hands, space, face,’ knowing that if they do their bit it will help us get through these next few months.” That has a knock-on effect on ambulances, which are then queuing up outside hospitals because there is no cubical for the patient to go to in the A&E. She added, “Emergency departments are jam packed because they can’t get patients out onto a ward in the hospital, because the ward beds are all full. Departments have exhausted their mutual aid in terms of transferring locally because local units are full, so they are looking at transferring patients further afield to make sure they get the care that they need.” Critical care units are overcapacity: there are some units that are at 140% capacity, so they have patients outside the critical care units. London, the East of England, and the South East of England are under immense pressure. “We are in for a very difficult new year,” she said.Īlison Pittard, dean of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, said, “It is really bad. Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said that in the past seven days the number of patients in hospitals in England had risen by 27%, with an increase of 35% in critical care beds.
As a result, most of England has now been moved into the highest tier of restrictions, similar to lockdown. 1 This is higher than the previous peak of 19 000 patients in April.
In the face of rising demand, medical leaders have told The BMJ that some hospitals are having to ration oxygen, staff are being asked to work extra shifts, and patients are being treated in the back of ambulances because hospitals have no space.Īs at 30 December 22 713 people in England were in hospital with covid-19, 1854 of whom were being ventilated.
Hospitals across London and the South East and East of England are struggling to meet rising demand as covid-19 hospital admissions rise to the highest point in the pandemic and the new, more transmissible variant of the virus spreads across the country.
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