Medics ‘in a state of dread’ as NHS winter crisis looms

Hospitals fear it could be one of the most challenging ever

- REBECCA THOMAS HEALTH CORRESPONDENT

As hospital beds fill up, seriously sick patients are sent to makeshift wards - cupboards, offices and corridors - to be treated by a doctor. Others are left languishing in waiting rooms, sometimes for days on end. In one particularly hard-hit hospital, a Costa Coffee cafe is turned into an emergency ward as medics struggle to cope with rising demand.

It's only October, yet the picture across NHS wards up and down the country is one of concern, with medics telling The Independent they fear a winter crisis on a scale only seen at the height of the pandemic. One A&E consultant warns the health service is facing something akin to "armageddon".

Every year, the NHS is under huge pressure at winter - a result of longstanding problems, including under-funding and an ageing population. But hospitals are already battling an "astonishing" number of flu and Covid patients this year, in part due to a "hugely concerning" early flu season, alongside a surge in A&E demand and staffing cuts.

On Tuesday, health secretary Wes Streeting admitted the NHS faces a "challenging" winter but insisted it was "already running hot" ahead of the season. Top medics have told The Independent the government has failed to adequately plan for a potentially devastating few months.

Dr Vicky Price, president of the Society of Acute Medicine, said: "This winter, I'm more scared than I've ever been. We are in a state of dread going into these winter months."

The concerns come off the back of a "bad" summer, which crippled wards and emergency departments and has set the NHS up for an even worse few months ahead even before a planned five-day strike in November, announced by the doctors' union this week.

Analysis of NHS data by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, shared with