More Covid patients in NHS hospitals in England than at April peak of first wave
Video report by ITV News Correspondent Sejal Karia
There are now more Covid-19 patients in NHS hospitals in England than there were during the April peak of the first wave, latest data has revealed.
Figures from NHS England showed there were 20,426 patients in NHS hospitals in England as of 8am on December 28.
A significant increase from the 18,974 Covid patients recorded on April 12.
It comes amid warnings hospitals in the country are "at their most vulnerable" as coronavirus cases across the UK soared to a record daily high.
Dr Yvonne Doyle, medical director at Public Health England (PHE), said: "This very high level of infection is of growing concern at a time when our hospitals are at their most vulnerable, with new admissions rising in many regions."
Meanwhile paramedics in the capital are receiving almost 8,000 call-outs daily, and Boxing Day was described as one of London Ambulance Service’s “busiest ever days”.
The rise in patients come as hopes grow for the approval of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in the coming days, with volunteers ready to help roll out the jab nationwide, according to reports.
Dr Katherine Henderson, President of the Royal College of Medicine, told ITV News: "The problem we've got in emergency departments is having flow critical to managing an emergency department safely.
"If we don't have flow out of an emergency department onto the wards, we end up with ambulances queuing and that's because we just don't have cubicles and trollies for patients to go onto.
"Because we haven't managed to get a patient up to a ward because we don't have ward beds, because we don't have staff," she warned.
When asked whether this could get worse, Dr Henderson told ITV News: "The next few weeks are going to be critical.
"I think the next few weeks are going to be worse and so it's really important we don't generate another surge and that's going to be really difficult to handle."
The 7,918 calls received by London Ambulance Service (LAS) on December 26 was up more than 2,500 on the 5,217 received on the same day last year, and medics are receiving support from other ambulance services in the South.
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Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, told the BBC: “We’re seeing a real rise in the pressure for hospital services, but also other types of NHS services as well… ambulance trusts in particular are coming under extreme pressure, as are community and mental health services”.
LAS said in a statement: “Like NHS organisations across the country, demand for our services has risen sharply over the past weeks and we are now taking up to 8,000 999 calls a day compared to 5,500 on a typical ‘busy’ day.
“Our colleagues in emergency departments are also under pressure receiving our patients as quickly as they can.
“We are working urgently with NHS partners to reduce any delays.”
There were 21,286 people in hospital with coronavirus across the UK on 22 December, the last day for which data is available, according to the government’s Covid-19 dashboard.
This is just slightly less than the 21,683 patients recorded on 12 April.
Infection rates in England are currently highest in areas of Essex, London and other parts of the South East.
Brentwood in Essex has the highest rate in England, with 1,111 new cases recorded in the seven days to December 23 – the equivalent of 1,442.5 cases per 100,000 people.
The area is in Tier 4 of Covid-19 restrictions along with most of the south of the country, with socialising banned and people told to stay home.
A review which will decide whether more areas will be moved into the harshest tier is expected on December 30, as the new highly infectious variant of coronavirus spreads across the UK and the world.
More than six million people in east and south-east England went into the highest level of restrictions on Saturday, which now affects 24 million people representing 43% of the population.
Cases of the variant infection have been identified in more than a dozen countries with the latest reported in Norway, Madeira and Jordan.
Lockdown measures are also in place across the other three home nations, after mainland Scotland entered Level 4 restrictions from Saturday for three weeks, and a similar stay-at-home order is also in place in Wales.
Northern Ireland has also entered a new six-week lockdown, and the first week measures are the toughest yet, with a form of curfew in operation from 8pm, shops closed from that time and all indoor and outdoor gatherings prohibited until 6am.
Figures in Downing Street are due to meet with officials at the Department for Education on Monday to discuss whether schools should be kept open in the event that harder measures are needed, it is understood.
Amid reports that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine could receive approval from regulators soon, people are being urged to not socialise over New Year in an attempt to “curb the spread” of the virus.
Ms Cordery, who leads the group which represents NHS trusts in England, said people “should be under no illusions that this is one of the most challenging times for the NHS”.
“It is vital that everyone heeds the new rules and restrictions in the run-up to the New Year and beyond.”
Dr Nick Scriven, immediate past president of the Society for Acute Medicine, has said the rising number of coronavirus patients in hospital is "extremely worrying".
“With the numbers approaching the peaks from April, systems will again be stretched to the limit. It is not ‘just the case’ of using the Nightingale hospital as there are simply no staff for them to run as they were originally intended (mini intensive care units).
Dr Scriven said: "They could play a role perhaps if used as rehabilitation units for those recovering but, again, where do we find the specialist staff – the NHS simply does not have the capacity to spare anyone.
He added: "This will, of course, mean cancelling elective care again. With ICU capacity there will be a need to utilise every ICU bed in a region and the nursing operating theatre areas like in the spring, again hitting elective surgical lists."
Around 10,000 volunteers have been recruited to help distribute the Oxford jab when it has been given the all-clear by regulators, the Telegraph reports with hopes of a mass rollout starting on January 4.
The UK has recorded its highest daily increase in coronavirus cases since the pandemic began with 41,385 positive Covid-19 tests on Monday.
The Government confirmed a further 357 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Monday, bringing the UK total to 71,109.
But the figures for deaths and cases are likely to be higher as Scotland is not releasing death data between December 24 and 28, and Northern Ireland is not providing either case or death data over the same period.