Hospital admissions will rise due to rapid Omicron spread, warns adviser

The rapid spread of the Omicron variant means hospital admissions are certain to rise in the coming weeks and staff may need to be redeployed to help wards cope, one of Nicola Sturgeon’s advisers says.

Gregor Smith, Scotland’s chief medical officer, said there was “no doubt” the latest wave of infections would increase the numbers going into hospital and staff may need to be “optimised” to where they are needed most.

He spoke at a press conference in Edinburgh where the first minister warned that the Omicron variant could cause a “tsunami of infections” as it quickly becomes the dominant strain in Scotland.

Hospitals are also expected to face pressure from growing numbers of staff who have to self-isolate as they come into contact with positive cases.

A large number of staff at the A&E ward of

Hairmyres Hospital in South Lanarkshire are already self-isolating after attending a Christmas party linked to an Omicron outbreak.

Dr Smith said the extent of the rise in admissions was not yet known and was likely to occur two or three weeks after the surge in infections.

He told the PA news agency: “With the size of wave that we can start to see shaping up here just now, there’s no doubt in my mind that we’re going to see a rise in hospital admissions that will come with that as well.”

He said there were daily conversations with hospital leaders to ensure they had the resilience to cope with Covid cases.

He added: “That might mean some reconfiguration of pathways and services to make sure that we can optimise staff to where they’re going to be needed most during that time.

“It’s really important that as part of that we’re making sure the wide variety of health conditions we see at this time of year – because remember we’re entering a winter period where there are many other conditions which start to rise as well – we need to make sure that those are all catered for as well.”

National clinical director Jason Leitch said selfisolation of staff would also pose a problem.

He added: “There are two simultaneous reasons to try and reduce the harm from this particular variant and that’s why you hear us being a little more sombre than you had hoped.”

Yesterday, the Scottish Sun reported that around 40 staff at Hairmyres were self-isolating due to an Omicron outbreak linked to their work Christmas party.

The first minister referred to this at the press conference, saying it was initial evidence of Omicron putting a strain on critical services.