A combination of Covid-19, flu and norovirus could push NHS England close to total shutdown this winter. Health chiefs say NHS hospitals are short of around 14,000 beds and it is thought this could get worse as the warm weather makes way for cooler temperatures later this year.
Covid cases are on the rise again and recent figures from NHS England reveal dangerously long ambulance waiting times for heart attacks and strokes. In response, some hospitals are encouraging patients to seek out alternative modes of transport to get to accident emergency if they don't need life-saving clinicians and equipment on their journeys.
Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, told the Daily Star that hospitals are running out of space for patients who get there. He said: “We are short of about 14,000 beds across the NHS."
All ambulance trusts are on the highest "black alert" level. Data shows that in June the average response time for heart attack and stroke victims was 51 minutes. The target is 18 minutes.
Patients have been warned by East Midlands Ambulance Service to call 999 as a "last resort". A spokesman said people who arrive at the hospital in an ambulance do not take priority over those who get there in a car or taxi.
Meanwhile, hundreds of the UK's 100,000 defibrillator units cannot be used at the moment due to a global shortage of parts like batteries and microchips. The devices can save lives of cardiac arrest victims for whom every minute before they receive an electric shock to the heart is vital.
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