Operations Delayed As NHS ‘Stretched Like Never Before'

Boris Johnson defended the government’s pandemic strategy during PMQs yesterday (Reuters)

Urgent operations such as cardiac and cancer treatments are being delayed in hospitals as the NHS is stretched like never before, health leaders have warned.

More than 20 hospitals in England have declared critical incidents due to increasing numbers of medics being forced to isolate, putting further pressure on a service already stretched by the spike in Covid cases.

It came as a cross-party group of MPs warned of the consequences of Boris Johnson’s decision to “ride out” the Omicron wave without further restrictions, saying the backlog of almost 6 million patients on waiting lists in England would grow.

Dr Stephen Webb, president of the Intensive Care Society, told The Independent: “Staff isolation and staff illness due to Covid restricts our ability to care for other patients.

“We are hearing from our members that virtually all intensive care units (ICUs) are under strain primarily because of staffing constraints and this is resulting in many having to limit access for patients having urgent operations.

“Patients who may need an urgent procedure – say a cardiology procedure – that patient will undoubtedly wait for longer in hospital until a spot becomes available for them to be transferred to.

“That urgent treatment will be restricted because of staffing restrictions, and we have heard that is happening within intensive care units because ICUs have less staff to open beds. Those staffing shortages are not just in ICU.”

Yesterday Chris Hopson, of NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts, warned the health service was “stretched like never before”. Another 194,747 infections were recorded yesterday, and 334 more deaths.