NHS England orders hospitals to free up all available beds for a surge in coronavirus cases which could last until March
Any suggestion that the government placing London in Tier 4 restrictions to reduce the spread of coronavirus was too little and too late will highlight the number of positive cases recorded in Croydon over Christmas.
Official figures show nearly 1,500 new cases were reported just in Croydon in just three days.
With Croydon’s Mayday Hospital already stretched with more than 100 covid-19 patients before the weekend, there’s well-informed fears that the number of people infected with the deadly virus will continue to rise into the New Year, following the government’s brief relaxation of its quarantine rules for Christmas Day.
And there’s justifiable anxiety among government and health officials that unless the public observe very strict lockdown measures over New Year, the infection rate and death toll will continue to soar.
According to latest official figures, more than 70,000 people have died in the UK due to covid-19 this year. Another 316 deaths were reported on Sunday, as nationally there were more than 30,000 positive cases recorded yesterday.
Figures show that the number of people in hospital as a result of covid-19 across the country is approaching the peak reached during the first outbreak in March.
In Croydon, there were 489 cases reported on Christmas Day, 521 cases on Saturday, December 26, and a further 473 cases reported yesterday, Sunday December 27. These figures may understate the true number of cases: in regular working weeks, there has tended to be a timelag in reporting cases over weekends.
The London Ambulance Service said Boxing Day was one of its “busiest ever days”, with 7,918 calls – up by more than 2,500 compared with the same day in 2019. It said it was now taking up to 8,000 999 calls a day, compared to 5,500 on a typical “busy” day.
Twin peaks – the number of covid patients in hospitals nationally is fast approaching the peak of the first outbreak
Just before the bank holiday, NHS England issued orders to all hospitals to free up every possible bed for the growing number of covid patients, placing the entire health service on its highest state of alert, probably at least until the end of March because of the ongoing influx of very sick patients, exacerbated by the new strain of coronavirus.
In a six-page letter sent to NHS care providers on December 23, health service chiefs said: “With covid-19 inpatient numbers rising in almost all parts of the country, and the new risk presented by the variant strain of the virus, you should continue to plan on the basis that we will remain in a level four incident for at least the rest of this financial year and NHS trusts should continue to safely mobilise all of the available surge capacity over the coming weeks.”
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to be honest, i’m not surprised the figures are so bad in croydon. travelling regularly on buses there’s just too many people not wearing masks and respecting social distancing. the times i’ve had to move and someone has got on on the top deck and sat in front of me or behind me when the deck is almost empty – well i’ve lost count. and someone taking an urgent mobile call about what they’re going to have 4 tea – well, masks go out the window and they can splutter all over you. Great.
and never once have i seen anyone enforcing it so khan can talk all the rubbish he likes about keeping london safe but he’s not doing it – he’s failed miserably. the automated message about masks on buses is a joke.
and it isn’t the job of the driver. they’ve got enough to do and have been magnificent throughout like all the other key workers. .
Your gratuitous dig at the Mayor of London unravels somewhat in your next sentence, Paul, when you (sensibly) suggest that it is not the role of bus drivers to act as mask enforcers. Bus drivers, and passengers, even readers of Inside Croydon, have all suffered abuse, even worse, for daring to suggest that passengers should act as required by the law and wear a mask when using public transport (unless there is a compelling medical exemption).
Or do you think that Sadiq Khan himself should be riding shot gun on the capital’s buses to ensure everyone masks up?
My specific point is to do with the enforcement officers as stated in the automated message any one using a bus has heard. It states they enforce this and I haven’t seen one. So in my experience the message is a lie.
Has anyone seen an enforcement officer enforcing on the buses?
No Paul. Just because you have entirely anecdotal evidence, from one person, of the absence of something does not make it a lie.
There probably are very few enforcement officers – largely because the funding to pay for them, promised by the government, has never materialised. Like the £350m a week for thee NHS that was on the side of another bus.
Now if we had enforcement officers for those kind of lies…
Can you please stop referring to ‘Mayday’ hospital….it has not been called that since 2010. It might please those who like to trot out the tired ‘Mayday, may die’, expression, but try and move with the times! It might also be less confusing for anyone who has moved here in the last 10 years and has no idea what hospital you are talking about!
No.
As previously explained, and at great length: it is what the vast majority of people (including most of those who work there) call it, and there is no such thing as Croydon University.
We have never received any complaints from anyone new to the area to say that they are confused by our calling the hospital what most people call it. They’ve probably looked on Google Maps and found Mayday Road (there’s no such thing as “Croydon University Road”).
Or they might even have found out about Croydon’s historic links to the Mayday distress signal.