NHS leaders have told the i that the NHS is heading into “one of its most challenging winters”, with Covid-19, waiting lists and staffing issues increasing fears that it will be pushed beyond capacity.
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers – the membership organisation for NHS trusts in England – said that on top of Covid-19 admissions and record NHS waiting list of 5.45 million people, the NHS was expecting high levels of flu and of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) among children in the coming months.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, council chair at the British Medical association, also warned that “with daily cases 10 times higher than this time last year” and “large numbers of people being admitted to hospital with Covid-19” this is “precisely what we wanted to avoid and warned about ahead of the Government relaxing all restrictions in July”.
Full story in The i, 7 September 2021