LONDON – UK hospitals are under unprecedented stress as a rapidly spreading coronavirus variant tears across the country, while pressure mounts as doctors say they are saving more lives, meaning more hospital beds are in use.
The more contagious virus variant has led to record numbers of hospital admissions and pushed the government-run National Health Service to its limits in some parts of the country. As they catch the wave, doctors are trying to reduce the number of fatalities in a number of ways, guided by the harsh lessons of spring.
They have put in place protocols so that older people carrying the virus are not sent from hospitals to nursing homes, where such movements last spring seeded the spread of the virus that has killed thousands. They use improved treatments for Covid-19 that keep more people alive.
In the meantime, they have continued with elective surgeries so that people with serious conditions such as cancer get procedures. This also means that more hospital beds are occupied.
The downside: hospitals are even more crowded and under more pressure than last spring.