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."
