Spike in COVID, flu cases piles more pressure on UK hospitals amid 'NHS crisis'

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Britain's healthcare facilities are facing mounting pressure due to an increasing number of patients suffering from flu and COVID-19 amid long waiting lists as well as "deadly" ambulance delays.

With the World Health Organization (WHO) warning on Dec. 1, 2022 that the influenza season epidemic has kicked off early in Europe, the UK has already seen serious ambulance delays and long waiting times in Accident and Emergency (A&E) services across the country.

However, with the beginning of winter in December last year, Britain's National Health Service (NHS) has become one of the most important agenda items of the country as the government has been highly criticized by many for "remaining silent to the NHS crisis" since then.

In addition to rising flu and COVID cases, strikes by healthcare staff including nurses, doctors and ambulance workers have increased the burden on the NHS, which is already under huge pressures.

On Jan. 8, the country's main opposition leader, Keir Starmer, said the NHS is in its "worst crisis ever" and "it is not just on its knees, it's on its face," as there are around 7.2 million people on the waiting list in the country.

- Rise in COVID and flu cases, or 'twindemic'

Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, defined the mounting coronavirus and flu cases across Britain as a "twindemic."

"Sadly, these latest flu numbers show our fears of a ‘twindemic’ have been realized, with cases up sevenfold in just a month and the continued impact of COVID hitting staff hard, with related absences up almost 50% on the end of November," he said on Dec. 30.

His remarks came after NHS figures showed that the number of flu cases in UK hospitals was up sevenfold in a month as there were 3,746 patients a day in hospital with flu in the last week of December, up from 520 a month earlier.

A day after the sobering figures, media reports revealed that patients in Scotland had been treated outside hospitals due to the coronavirus and flu, compounded by higher-than-normal levels of staff sickness.

On Jan. 6, the NHS released another figure showing how the rise in flu cases poses a threat to the health system. It said that flu cases rose by 47% during the first week of the year.

"Last week, there were an average of 5,441 people a day in hospital with the flu compared with 3,746 the week before – up almost 50% in seven days," it said.

- Waiting list, 'deadly' ambulance delays

With the issue turning into "a crisis," hospital and ambulance trusts across the UK have begun declaring "critical incidents" since the beginning of December.

On Dec. 27, UK ambulance services declared a second “critical incident” in a week due to extreme pressure as authorities also started calling on the public not to call the emergency number 999 unless it was a life-threatening condition.

Despite these measures, the long waiting issue has not been resolved, as a senior health official in Britain warned on Jan. 2 of the risk to patients due to "appalling" wait times in A&E departments.

"Emergency departments are in a really difficult (situation) and in some cases a complete state of crisis right now...and in many cases, we are unable to provide care at the standard we would like," said Ian Higginson, vice-president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM).

On the same day, another top official said that the UK’s health system is under more pressure than it was during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Medical staff are "pressurized like never before," said Tim Cooksley, the head of the Society for Acute Medicine.

Separately, on Jan. 2, Matthew Taylor, the head of the NHS Confederation, also pointed out that health services are under "unbearable strain."

A day after these warnings, local media reported that a woman in the UK died after more than 16 hours of waiting for an ambulance to arrive at the scene.

Suffering from diabetes and a muscle-wasting disease, 54-year-old Teresa Simpson died at Hull Royal Infirmary in November after a heart attack and lack of oxygen to the brain.

On Jan. 5, it was revealed that a 56-year-old man in Northern Ireland waited more than 100 hours on a trolley in an A&E department despite having a serious kidney infection.

While these reports circulating, political parties and top health officials called on the government to "immediately recall" parliament to find a solution to the ongoing crisis as soon as possible.

After that, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Jan. 7 hosted the NHS Recovery Forum amid increasing pressure on the country's health system.

A few days before the forum, the premier said that he acknowledged the challenges faced by British people and vowed that his government would work to reduce the waiting lists for NHS care.

However, waiting lists are still a serious issue for the public as the latest figures by the NHS on Jan. 12 showed that the number of people waiting over a year for treatment is 220 times higher compared to the pre-pandemic period.

- Strikes by healthcare workers

Along with a series of industrial actions by various groups including railway staff and postal workers, thousands of healthcare workers also held a series of strikes over a pay dispute and working conditions.

Along with members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) on Dec. 15 and 20, ambulance staff from the GMB, Unite and Unison unions held a wide range of strikes across Britain on Dec. 21 and 28.

The strikes and striking unions were criticized by the government for "refusing the negotiation table" and adding more pressure to the current problems in the healthcare system.

Despite a series of talks between union leaders and relevant government officials, healthcare staff announced new strikes that would be held in January.

"Once again, we offered talks. Once again ministers refused to get round the table. Once again, nursing staff are left with no choice," said the Royal College of Nursing, announcing further strikes by nurses in England on Jan. 18-19.

In addition to nurses, around 25,000 ambulance workers are expected to walk out on Jan. 23 due to an ongoing pay dispute.

Following these developments, it was announced on Jan. 5 that the government will introduce a new bill dubbed the "anti-strike law" requiring minimum service levels in key sectors during industrial action.

Meanwhile, the British Medical Association (BMA) said that junior doctors struggling financially because of debt have opened an online strike ballot (which will be closed on Feb. 20) for a possible walkout in March.

Philip Banfield, the chairman of the British Medical Association, said that if doctors decide to leave their jobs as a result of the vote, the strike will be "the second major strike of general practitioners after the strike in 2016."