“It’s not standard”: English hospitals are under pressure in the face of the Omicron variant

Do English hospitals withstand trauma? Yes Boris Johnson bets The Omigron wave can pass without further restrictions, Alerts are on the rise in the hospital network , Faces chronic staff shortages. The latest comes from Greater Manchester, where 17 hospitals have isolated all non-emergency treatments to cope with the sharp rise in the number of hospital admissions.

“These hospitals are under pressure not only because of the patients who come with Covid, but also because some of the staff are isolated,” the BBC’s David Levy regional director of the NHS Northwest, a regional health network, explained on Wednesday morning.

Like Manchester, 15% of caregivers are currently non-existent, with many hospital services unable to function due to staff shortages. Prior to the outbreak, there were already 100,000 vacancies in the health care system, which was emphasized by the closure of borders and the isolation rules induced by Govt.

Priority maintenance

So far this year, a dozen hospital teams from Blackpool in the north to Plymouth on the south coast have reported a ‘significant incident’, a way of signaling to authorities that not all priority care can be provided.

Staff shortages also affect ambulance service. In the West Midlands, for example, the ambulance service called in retired staff to ensure the continuity of its operation. In the North East, paramedics recommended that patients with a stroke or heart attack be taken by car to the emergency department, where service could not be provided within the usual eighteen-minute period.

Testimonies of caregivers exhausted by this two-year epidemic are circulating in the media and on social media. Like this nurse in Sheffield, he explained to LBC Radio that the emergency waiting time would reach twelve hours. “It’s not unusual now,” he testified. I worked in the emergency department for thirty years and can honestly say that I have never seen a situation like this. It’s not standard: it’s a word I hear all day at work. “

London, near the top of the wave?

Epidemic figures are a direct critique of Health Minister Sajid Javed’s call for new restrictions. Faced with the emotion provoked by these testimonies, Chris Hobson is the boss of NHS Providers, the structure that oversees English hospitals. Made more measured comments about the current situation.

According to him, London hospitals are “facing” the Omigron wave, and it is not far off that it will reach its peak in London. The capital was first affected by the variance, and then it spread to other parts of England. But the effects of the holiday season and a return to school in January have not yet been realized. If pollution increases again, “the government should be prepared to introduce more restrictions if necessary,” he said.

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