Operations are being canceled across England as Covid causes major “disruption” to the NHS, the country’s chief surgeon said, as doctors and health leaders say the government’s goals of lagging behind seem increasingly unattainable.
Six million people are on the NHS hospital waiting list, including more than 23,000 who have been waiting more than two years. The NHS in England is due to release its latest waiting time data on Thursday.
Boris Johnson said in February that he had launched “the largest catch-up program in the history of the health service”, but that same month he rejected all internal restrictions on Covid. Covid’s record high levels are now wreaking havoc with the NHS’s ability to catch up with operations that were postponed or canceled before and during the pandemic.
More than 28,000 employees do not work every day due to Covid, according to the latest figures, while more than 20,000 patients are in hospital with Covid, which has drastically reduced the number of beds and places available for patients with planned surgery.
“Unfortunately, Covid-19 continues to cause major disruption to the NHS, with a large absence of staff in recent weeks,” said Professor Neil Mortensen, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, to the Guardian.
“We have heard that the planned operation is being canceled again in different parts of the country, as the staff is sick with the virus. This is understandably frustrating for surgical teams who want to help their patients by reopening a planned operation. This is also very worrying for patients who need planned surgery.
Ministers have promised to remove all waiting more than two years until July this year, all 18-month waiting until 2023 and all one-year waiting until March 2025, but NHS officials say Covid is already thwarting efforts to meet those promises.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said the pressure was “accumulating” on the NHS across England from a “triple blow to Covid” from staff absences, large numbers of people in Covid hospital and delays in discharging patients. as Covid falls into social services.
“This means that the NHS is not constantly able to reach the maximum speed to recover the accumulated cases, as we hoped to come out of the winter,” he said. “Some trusts are now handling more eligible cases than before Covid strikes, with some working at 105% to 108% of pre-Covid activity. But others, with more Covid influence, are a little behind. This will affect the NHS’s ability to meet the goals we have agreed.
The British Medical Association has accused the government of failing to understand how serious a threat Covid poses to the NHS, lagging goals and society at large.
It says that unless ministers introduce measures to reduce the rate of contamination, such as masks in public transport and indoors and ventilation and air filtration in public and workplaces, pressure on the NHS will escalate further, the absence rate the staffing will increase further and millions of patients will wait longer for treatment.
A survey of its members found that 87% of doctors say the government’s promises to reduce waiting lists for elective care using the existing workforce are largely or completely unattainable.
“The government is burying its head in the sand in the face of the immediate threat of the virus to our health services,” said Dr Chaand Nagpol, chairman of the BMA board. “It is clear that the outcome of the government’s strategy to live with Covid fails to allow us to live with Covid.”
A hospital chief executive told the Guardian that the ministers’ goals were “incredibly challenging”. Second said: “These goals are not realistic at all due to the shortage of staff that existed before Covid and is complicated by the number of people still reporting sick and the burning of staff.
Meanwhile, an analysis of data from the Press Association, published on Thursday, revealed that dozens of patients have been waiting for more than three years. At least nine have been on the NHS waiting list for more than four years.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents the entire healthcare system, said Covid’s continued influence is now hampering the NHS’s ability to cope with the backlog and there needs to be a “healthy dose of realism” about what staff can achieve. .
NHS England said staff “keep pulling all the stops” to keep up, and also “embraces creative innovation” to ensure that patients receive the care they need.
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