NHS put on crisis footing as Omicron variant surges

Hospitals told to free up beds amid claim of up to 200,000 daily infections

- Rowena Mason, Denis Campbell and Andrew Gregory

Rowena Mason Denis Campbell Andrew Gregory

The NHS was put on to a crisis footing last night as hospitals in England were told to discharge as many patients as possible while estimated daily Covid cases hit 200,000 and the first death of a person with Omicron in the UK was revealed.

Amid a scramble for tests and booster jabs, the country’s doctors called for further restrictions to be imposed to stem the rise in cases and Downing Street did not rule out fresh measures. In a letter to hospitals, NHS England chiefs said patients who could be discharged to care homes, hospices, their own homes or hotels before Christmas to free up beds, should be.

The letter from NHS England chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, and medical director, Prof Stephen Powis, said the service was facing a level 4 “national incident”. Hotels are already being turned into temporary care facilities staffed with workers flown in from Spain and Greece to relieve pressure on NHS beds.

Hospitals and GPs have also been told to scale back normal services and limit care to those needing urgent attention so NHS staff can be freed up to deliver boosters. Hospitals will undertake fewer non-urgent operations but “highest clinical priority patients”, including people with cancer and those who have been waiting a long time, will be given priority.

They have also been told to take ambulance-borne patients into A&E quicker so paramedics can get back on the road to answer more 999 calls, speed up efforts to bring in nurses from overseas to help tackle the NHS’s lack of staff and send as many patients as possible for surgery at private hospitals.