By Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent
image copyrightGetty Images
Doctors warn that the increase in Covid hospital cases has left key hospital services in England in crisis.
NHS data showed that A & Es faced increasing delays when they admitted extremely ill patients into the ward.
Meanwhile, the total number of people waiting for routine treatments for years is now more than 100 times higher than before the pandemic.
Cancer experts also warn that disrupting their services is “scary” and could cost lives.
Reports have surfaced of hospitals canceling urgent operations – London’s King’s College Hospital has stopped giving priority to two treatments, which must be done within 28 days.
And the largest hospital trust in Birmingham has temporarily suspended most liver transplants.
This comes after an increase in Covid patients over the past few weeks.
One in three patients in the hospital has the virus – and in some places it is more than half.
“I’m strong, but I’m broken ‘
Paul, 57, of Manchester,’s radiotherapy for cancer was canceled in early January.
His tumor – between his lungs and above his heart – cannot be operated on because it is fed through two veins, so doctors can only stop it from growing.
He has been waiting for radiotherapy since 2020.
“Will I be one of thousands of cancer patients who will die prematurely because the NHS prioritizes Covid-19 over cancer patients?
“I’m a strong person, but I’m broken. My family is all rooted for me, but I can not see them.
“Because it’s cancer, it’s stressful. I feel constantly anxious.”
NHS England Medical Director Prof Stephen Powis said the NHS was facing an ‘extremely difficult challenge’, and that the addition of services would remain under pressure until the virus was under control.
But he stressed that there is still no treatment with Covid – with three times as many diagnostic tests and twice as many surgeries as in the spring when the pandemic first struck.
How are services affected?
The data published by NHS England showed the extent of the impact of Covid’s handling on key hospital services.
The data published on Thursday showed:
- Nearly 90,000 patients – one in four – admitted to hospital via A&E waited more than four hours until a bed was found.
- This included a record of 3,745 who waited longer than 12 hours
- There was a record 4.46 million on the waiting list for routine treatment, including knee and hip surgeries
- More than 192,000 waited more than a year – in February, before the pandemic began, the figure was 1,600
- Staff had to be redeployed in critical care after increasing cases in Covid hospitals since November forced them to increase the number of intensive care beds.
image copyrightGetty ImagesThe figures for cancer date from November, before the increase in cases.
At that time, the number of urgent cancer examinations and treatments was at normal levels.
But since then, there have been concerns that services have been reduced.
Prof Pat Price, of the Catch Up With Cancer campaign, said the services were facing the “biggest crisis” of her 30-year career.
“It’s a scary scenario,” she added.
And the Royal College of Surgeons has warned that the pandemic is having a ‘disastrous impact’ on waiting times for the planned operation.
Sarah Scobie, of the Nuffield Trust brainstorm, said services were under “unbearable pressure”, adding: “the worst is yet to come”.
Saffron Cordery, of NHS Providers, which represents hospital bosses, agrees: “The next few weeks will undoubtedly be the most testing in NHS history.”