NHS trusts in England declare critical incident as hospital admissions near January high

Ambulance and emergency care providers scale back services as cases of Omicron sub-variant continue to rise



NHS leaders in several parts of England have temporarily scaled back services except for patients whose lives are in danger, as the number of people in hospital with coronavirus nears that of the first Omicron peak.

The South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS), which operates across six counties surrounding London, announced early on Wednesday that it had declared a critical incident “due to extreme pressures across our services”.

The latest evidence of the strain on health services threatens to overshadow ministers’ attempts to trumpet the government’s new health and social care levy, which is intended to pump billions of pounds into the NHS in the next three years.

“If your situation is not a life-threatening or serious emergency then we will discuss your needs and provide advice. If your call does not require an emergency ambulance response then you could be asked to make your own way to hospital,” SCAS said.

As of April 6, 16,587 hospital beds across England were occupied by Covid-19 patients, after rising 6 per cent in the past week. The figure is close to the high point of about 17,100 Covid-19 patients reached in January, caused by a surge of the original Omicron variant.

However, nearly three-fifths of patients are being treated primarily for another medical issue.

West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts, which represents six hospital trusts, told patients to attend accident and emergency departments when facing “genuine, life-threatening situations”, warning of waits of more than 12 hours. Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth declared a critical incident on Wednesday.

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said trusts across England were still under “enormous strain”.

“A very high number of hospital beds are occupied and, combined with staff absences and severe workforce shortages, this means that trusts can’t recover care backlogs as quickly as they want to,” she added.

Dr Layla McCay, director of policy at the NHS Confederation, said healthcare leaders “would urge the government to have a realistic conversation with the public about the current situation in the health service”.

The NHS said staff “remain under significant pressure on many fronts as they deal with high numbers of ambulance call outs, increasing numbers of people in hospital with Covid-19, while the latest weekly figures also show a spike in the number of staff off sick due to the virus”.

It's the same EVERY winter and has been for as long as I can remember.

It's down to bad NHS management, nothing to do with Covid-19.

Now, now, Dutchman, stop that! You mustn't go against the official narrative.

Bed blockers take up more space than Covid patients in England’s overwhelmed hospitals



Bed blockers are taking up more space than Covid patients in England's overwhelmed hospitals, it has emerged, as the Government was urged to do more to fund social care.

Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, warned there were 20,000 medically fit patients who were ready to be discharged, but currently have nowhere to go. The number has approximately doubled since December when around 10,000 patients were waiting to leave the hospital.

Latest NHS England figures for April showed there are currently around 88,000 patients in NHS hospital beds, but the new figures show nearly one quarter do not need to be there.

In contrast, there are around 15,000 Covid patients in hospital, of which roughly 8,500 were admitted for a different reason, with coronavirus admissions falling since the beginning of April.

In a lengthy Twitter thread on Sunday, Mr Hopson said the NHS was ‘facing major difficulties’ and warned that a ‘major contributory factor’ was the inability to promptly discharge thousands of medically fit patients.

“(The) NHS has been working really hard to improve discharge and flow, but finding this difficult,” he said.

“We need right funding, right size of workforce, right support for social care, right level of NHS capacity to meet growing demand and a funded change programme.”

The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) has warned that the care sector is in the middle of a national crisis with 100,000 vacancies and staff leaving for better pay in shops and bars.

The sector was badly hit by the Government's mandatory vaccination policy which saw thousands of workers forced to leave the profession after refusing to be jabbed. There are also increasing numbers of staff off sick or isolating from Covid.