NHS fears virus patients will take third of hospital beds this winter

ONE in three hospital beds could be filled by Covid-19 patients this winter, NHS planners fear.

Hospitals have been asked to draw up plans to cope with spikes in demand that could see up to 35 per cent of beds occupied by those with the coronavirus.

Hospital leaders have raised fears that the NHS is facing a “perfect storm” with increasing numbers of staff on the brink of burn-out as a second wave of the virus and winter pressures loom.

Before the first wave of Covid-19, hospitals were asked to empty 30 per cent of beds in order to ensure there was sufficient capacity to cope with coronavirus victims.

The order proved to be controversial, as elderly patients were discharged to care homes without being tested first, fuelling the spread of the virus. This time, no central instruction has been issued, and Sir Simon Stevens, head of the NHS, has said services for nonCovid-19 patients should keep running for as long as possible.

The NHS is dealing with a huge backlog of patients, with the numbers waiting at least a year for operations having risen 50-fold since February, with 83,000 such cases in July.

All patients awaiting planned surgery are now having their cases reviewed, in order to prioritise them. Health leaders

have now been told to plan for three scenarios whereby the proportion of beds occupied by Covid-19 patients is at five per cent, 20 per cent and 35 per cent.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “There is significant concern about a prolonged second peak, particularly if it’s combined with winter pressures and high levels of flu.

“Such a peak would significantly impact on the NHS’S ability to restore services at the rate we all want to see.”

A poll of 140 NHS senior managers by NHS Providers found 99 per cent were either “extremely” or “moderately concerned” about the current level of burnout across the workforce.

Surgeons are calling for hospital beds to be “ring-fenced” for planned operations, to avoid a “tsunami of cancellations” due to rising Covid-19 cases.

A survey for the Royal College of Surgeons of England found most physicians thought the NHS would fail to get surgery back to 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels by the end of this month.