Major NHS hospitals in London are beginning to cancel operations as trusts struggle to redeploy staff to deal with the coronavirus crisis, a leaked report suggests.
Hospitals in the capital are also beginning to run out of critical care beds ahead of the relaxation of pandemic rules over Christmas, which experts believe could lead to a rise in cases still further.
The NHS briefing paper, seen by the Independent, says that a surge in demand for hospital space is expected to lead to severe staff shortages.
Yesterday, there were a total of 2,289 coronavirus patients in London hospitals, an increase of 2% on the day before.
But the numbers of coronavirus patients in critical care beds jumped 8.6% in a single day, increasing from 302 to 345 patients yesterday (Wednesday), while an additional 900 people who have tested positive were receiving oxygen.
Across London, there were just 49 adult critical care beds available yesterday (Wednesday). In total there were 904 beds occupied, of which 328 had Covid-19. This meant the capital’s total critical care bed occupancy rate was almost 95.
The Independent reports that the briefing states: “Over the last seven days there has been an average daily increase of 3.6% in the number of Covid-19 patients in adult critical care. If this trend continues we forecast in three weeks there will be 1,241 occupied adult critical care beds of which 665 will be Covid-19 patients.”
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Although the number of patients is much lower than it was the first wave, many hospitals are still treating routine and non-Covid patients – meaning they are struggling to staff critical wards and keep other services running.
A briefing for NHS managers warned them: “A reduction of elective [routine] activity is likely to be needed in line with increasing acute activity.”
It added managers “need to ready themselves for reactive cancellations” and “the need for redeployment is likely to be greater than previously anticipated due to the rapidly changing environment, other demands such as vaccination and the rising sickness rate.”
It also suggested annual leave over the festive period be reviewed.