Surging infections and deaths ‘incredibly hard to deal with’ – UK hospitals
Hospitals are under “extreme pressure”, the deputy chief executive of the UK NHS providers has said.
Saffron Cordery, who represents NHS trusts, said the increased demand from the spread of the new variant and staff absences were creating a “challenging situation”.
The surging cases and deaths at nearly 1,000 a day were “incredibly hard to deal with”, she told BBC Breakfast earlier.
“We are back where we were,” she said, comparing the situation with the previous peak in April. “The next few weeks are going to be nail-bitingly difficult for the NHS. Everyone is anticipating that.”
She said major London hospitals were saying they were under real pressure and whole floors were being converted to additional intensive care wards.
Cordery said there was a question over whether the NHS had the staff to use the Nightingale temporary hospitals, with the health service being short of 100,000 staff members even before the pandemic.
But she said they could be used to treat non-Covid patients who required fewer staff to care for them.
