Every 30 seconds, another Covid victim is admitted

A NEW Covid patient is admitted to hospital every 30 seconds, the NHS chief executive warned yesterday.

Sir Simon Stevens said the Health Service was facing the worst crisis in its history as 671 daily deaths were recorded – the deadliest Sunday of the pandemic so far.

His grim warning came as a survey of ambulance staff found many are ‘in tears’ before shifts while patients are ‘dying waiting for ambulances’.

A separate survey of frontline doctors revealed their ‘ongoing distress’ after working through the first wave.

In the past seven days, 29,228 Covid patients were admitted to hospitals.

However, in a sign that lockdown may be working, the number of daily cases fell to 38,598, down from 54,940 last Sunday.

In England alone, 15,000 patients have been taken into hospital with the virus since Christmas Day, equivalent to 30 full hospitals, according to Sir Simon.

He said cases were still rising in some areas and some age groups, including the over-60s, with 75 per cent more Covid patients in hospital now than at the previous peak in April. The R number, he added, is between 1.2 and 1.3, meaning for every ten people catching the virus it is spread to a further 12 or 13 people.

‘The facts are very clear and I’m not going to sugar- coat them,’ Sir Simon told the

BBC’s Andrew Marr Show. ‘Hospitals are under extreme pressure and staff are under extreme pressure.’

He said that infection rates, although steadying, are still too high. Meanwhile, three out of four ambulance staff are at ‘ breaking point’, and are suffering low morale, a survey suggests.

The GMB union said almost two in three of 2,000 of members surveyed said they believed their PPE should be upgraded.

Workers said patients are dying waiting for ambulances because crews are ‘stuck at hospital’ with Covid patients, as a backlog of hundreds of calls builds up.

One said: ‘ We had a taxi pull up in an ambulance bay with a dead male while his wife was shouting for help.’

Another said staff were ‘ frightened almost to tears’ as their shifts started. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: ‘The safety of NHS and social care staff including paramedics has always been our top priority and we continue to work round the clock to deliver PPE that helps protect those on the front line.’

Another study found frontline doctors face ‘ongoing distress’ after the high-pressure conditions of the first wave.

Nearly half of the 5,400 emergency, anaesthetics and intensive care professionals surveyed reported psychological distress as the first peak approached.

Trauma was detected in almost a quarter, according to the research by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine and the University of Bath.

‘Staff frightened almost to tears’