Hospitals cancel elective surgery to make room for virus patients

ROUTINE operations are being cancelled across the NHS as hospitals struggle to cope with rising numbers of Covid-19 patients.

Yesterday one of the Government’s scientific advisers said that Liverpool could run out of hospital beds in the next week, warning of a “dire” situation, as he urged those in the city to comply with its lockdown.

The city’s overstretched hospitals have begun cancelling routine operations, along with NHS trusts in Birmingham, Nottingham, Plymouth, Swansea and Belfast.

Prof Calum Semple, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), appeared in a video message issued by Liverpool City Council, asking the public to pay “great attention” to the new restrictions in the city region.

He said: “I’ve been asked to speak to you today about the dire situation that faces our hospitals in Liverpool.

“We have got over 300 patients in beds and our intensive care capacity is currently running at 90 per cent.

“At this rate we are looking at exceeding healthcare capacity in the next week or so.”

On Monday, Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Steve Warburton told staff that it had reached a “critical point”.

He said 90 per cent of intensive care beds were full on Monday, but that the figure had dropped to 80 per cent by last night.

Steve Rotheram, mayor of the region, stressed that the Nightingale Hospital in Manchester was on standby for patients from north western England.

University Hospitals Birmingham, which runs four sites in the city, said it is now cancelling routine operations to make space in intensive care for Covid19 patients. A trust spokesman said its intensive care units were running at 100 per cent capacity as about one in four patients were being treated for the coronavirus.

It came as a survey of more than 200 doctors by the Society of Acute Medicine found three in four of those working in urgent care do not believe hospitals are well enough prepared to cope with the influx of patients over the next six months.