Any rise in Covid numbers will put recovery ‘in jeopardy’ – SAM past president

Commenting today (04 June) on NHS pressures, Dr Nick Scriven, immediate past president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: “Our hospitals are really, really busy with acute non-Covid related illnesses causing admission at the same time as trusts are trying to ramp up elective recovery.

“Any slight rise in Covid numbers will put the latter into jeopardy as hospitals will again lose any flexibility in how they manage their bed bases around infection control policies.

“It is this lack of available beds that will bring the biggest struggles rather than the absolute numbers of Covid patients in the system which is far less than the grim days of winter/spring.

“There is also very significant concern in NHS trusts in or near areas of concern re the Delta variant, especially around the potential for vaccinated staff to be asymptomatic carriers.

“There is also some worry that there is a perception hospitals are now ‘open as usual’ especially for visitors which is sadly not the case and with infection rates rising the ‘rules’ regarding this will not change.”