Six million people are on the NHS hospital waiting list, including more than 23,000 who have been waiting for more than two years. The NHS in England is going to publish the latest data on waiting times on Thursday. Boris Johnson said in February that he had launched “the largest coverage program in health care history,” but that same month rejected any domestic restrictions on Covid. High Covid rates are now wreaking havoc on the NHS ‘ability to make up for the difference with surgeries that were delayed or canceled before and during the pandemic. More than 28,000 workers are out of work every day because of Covid, according to recent figures, and more than 20,000 patients are being treated in hospital with Covid, which has dramatically reduced the number of beds and space available for scheduled surgical patients. “Unfortunately, Covid-19 continues to cause a great deal of confusion in the NHS, with large staff absences in recent weeks,” Professor Neil Mortensen, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, told the Guardian. “We have heard that scheduled surgery is being canceled again in various parts of the country due to staff who are infected with the virus. This is understandably frustrating for surgical teams who want to help their patients by performing scheduled surgery again. “It’s also very painful for patients who need a planned operation.” Ministers have promised to eliminate all expectations of more than two years by July this year, all expectations of 18 months until 2023 and all one-year expectations by March 2025, but NHS staff say Covid is already derailing their efforts to fulfill these promises. Chris Hopson, chief executive of the NHS Providers, said the pressure was “accumulating” across the NHS across the UK from a “triple Covid-related blow” of absenteeism, high hospitalizations with Covid and delays in patients leaving as Covid. . affects social services. “This means that the NHS has not been able to achieve consistently high speeds for the recovery of the backlog, as we had hoped, coming out of winter,” he said. “Some trusts are now processing more selective cases than before Covid appeared, with some performing 105% to 108% of pre-Covid activity. But others, with higher impacts of Covid, are somewhat behind it. “This will affect the NHS ‘ability to achieve the goals we have agreed upon.” The British Medical Association has accused the government of failing to realize how serious Covid’s threat to the NHS is, to its goals and to society at large. He said that if ministers did not take action to reduce pollution rates, such as masks on public transport and in confined spaces and ventilation and air filtration in public places and workplaces, pressures on the NHS would escalate further, with absenteeism rates increase further. and millions of patients would wait longer for treatment. A survey of its members found that 87% of doctors said that the government’s commitments to reduce waiting lists for voluntary care using the existing workforce were mostly or completely impossible. “The government is putting its head in the sand for the immediate threat of the virus to healthcare providers,” said Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the BMA board. “It’s clear that the outcome of the Covid’s government’s strategy does not allow us to live with Covid.” A hospital director told the Guardian that the ministers’ targets were “incredibly provocative”. A second said: “These goals are not realistic at all because of the staff shortages that existed before Covid and are exacerbated by the number of people still reporting illness, as well as staff burnout.” Meanwhile, a data analysis by the Press Association released on Thursday revealed that dozens of patients have been waiting for more than three years. At least nine have been on the NHS waiting list for more than four years. Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents the entire healthcare system, said Covid’s continuing impact now interferes with the NHS ‘ability to deal with delays and that there should be a “healthy dose of realism” about could succeed staff. NHS England said staff “continue to make every effort” to address delays and also “adopt creative innovations” to ensure patients receive the care they need.
