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 frontline 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 took us onto the respiratory ward, 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”.
Dr Munavva said: “I’m extremely worried, we are still in October and already starting to see flu admissions on top of Covid and winter pressures we face every year.
“I think we’ll struggle. There is a domino effect on our emergency department and then onto ambulances.
“The combination of these two viruses is deadly, there is no doubt about it.
“And when you get Covid and flu outbreaks here, the staff are likely to get infected and go off sick. That’s a serious concern.
“That’s why we are pushing hard to get more and more people vaccinated, not just those who are vulnerable and elderly, but also our own staff.”
That seems to be an uphill battle. So far this year, flu vaccine uptake is down by more than 10%, from 4million last year to 3.4million now.
In the past week alone, 203 people had the virus as medics pleaded with others to take up more than 40 million free jabs available. More than 11.3 million people have had their fourth Covid jab.
Ward manager Emma McCulloch, who works alongside sister Sister Chithra Velayudhan, said her biggest worry this winter is “the number of people we’re going to get through the doors”.
One of the biggest challenges is care homes will not take medically-fit Covid patients until they test negative. It can also take four to six hours to fumigate a room that had a Covid patient in.
Staff are already having to masterfully move patients around like “chess pieces” to free up beds for those most in need. Emma added: “We are already stretched for side rooms. We haven’t got any.
“It’s not just about getting someone out and getting someone straight back in there. Sometimes you’ve got to fumigate them which can take hours.”
Retired security guard Stephen Green had been signing a “do not resuscitate” form just days ago. He was battling pneumonia and TB when Covid added to his problems.
The 58-year-old, from Preston, said: “I’ve no complaints over my treatment. The doctors and nurses stayed on top of it. But they’re all overworked and they don’t get the recognition they should get. I worry for them.
“If you look at the money politicians are on, if they all took a £1,000 pay cut and banged it into the NHS they will have made some cash for the system, you could give the staff a pay rise.”
Guy Parkinson, 58, from Chorley has just recovered from pneumonia, one of the main fears for doctors in the looming twindemic.
The retired forklift truck driver said: “The staff here are extremely good.
“Pneumonia is horrific, you can’t move or breathe, you lose all your energy. I’ve only just started getting the energy to lean over the side of the bed.
“If you could avoid it by getting vaccinated you absolutely would.”
Downstairs in critical care, we take a tour with speciality business manager Jo Agnew.
Two cleaners are taping the doors off to a bay which has just been fumigated. Two years ago, it was overflowing with critically-ill Covid patients on life support.
Today, only four of the hospital’s 69 patients with the virus need to be here. But there are still rows upon rows of unconscious people with tubes down their throats and machines bleeping at their bedside. They are fighting various ailments to stay alive.
One medic is sitting at a desk looking through a window. When I asked him what he’s doing, he told me he must watch the patient on the other side and he can’t leave.
He said: “If I need to go and get something, someone else will have to come and watch him to make sure he remains stable.”
At the peak of the pandemic in April 2020, Royal Preston had 180 Covid patients. Now there are fewer than 70, with four in critical care and seven on the respiratory ward.
Jo showed us a side room with a sofa bed and grey decor. It is where they take patients’ relatives for the most heartbreaking conversations.
But staff can also go there for some alone time if they feel overwhelmed.
Jo revealed many staff members suffered post traumatic stress in the months after the pandemic.
She added: “What we’re facing now is a sense of dread that it’s going to be the way it was. Staff are worrying that they can’t go through that again.”
But even in the face of these fears their commitment to the patients does not falter.
Dr Munavvar told how last week after getting home from one shift he received a call to say a critically ill Covid patient was dying.
A blood clot had travelled to her lung and she couldn’t breathe. He was the only person who could perform the specialist procedure she needed.
Dr Munavvar returned without hesitation and saved her life.
He said: “I wasn’t on call or anything, but it’s one of those things, we do it.
“It’s a desperate situation, the difference between life or death.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The NHS is rapidly boosting capacity ahead of winter by creating the equivalent of at least 7,000 more beds and we are providing an extra £500 million to speed up hospital discharge.
“Over 11.5 million people have had their autumn booster - with the rollout almost twice as fast as last year’s - and getting vaccinated against Covid and flu will reduce your chances of getting seriously ill. If you’re eligible, come forward for your jabs.”
