NHS Is Facing Worst Winter On Record

Mirror reports from inside a hospital battling the flu and Covid twindemic

- Hollie Bone

Doctors fear a mix of Covid and flu will spark a winter NHS crisis.

The Mirror visited one hospital to witness staff battling the twindemic.

And a senior doctor warned: "It's horrendous. I think it'll be the worst winter on record for the NHS.

WITH the horrors of the pandemic still fresh in their minds, NHS staff now face a deadly twindemic of Covid and flu which they fear could cripple the NHS in the coming weeks.

The Mirror joined doctors and nurses on the front line as they battle the growing crisis, which one medic warned could be the worst winter on record for a health service already struggling to cope thanks to savage Tory cuts.

Staff at Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire took us on to the respiratory Ward 23, where patients with both flu and Covid have already been admitted.

Consultant chest physician Dr Mohammed Munavvar said the combination of these illnesses can be lethal for vulnerable people such as the elderly, and will have “a knock-on effect” for beds across the NHS

While Covid patients are much less ill than they were two years ago, thanks to vaccines, another 47,000 people tested positive in the past week alone.

Two new sub-strains of the Omicron variant were also detected in the UK.

During the pandemic, Dr. Munavvar and his team saved more than 6,500 Covid patients, but they also lost at least 1,000.

And the general feeling now is “that was the fear of the unknown, this year it’s the fear of what we know is coming”.