Is the UK NHS ready for the second wave of Covid-19?

The British government has ordered more than 30 billion personal protective equipment and stockpiled four months’ worth of kits to avoid a shortage that would endanger NHS staff during the first wave of coronavirus.

Under a strategy to be announced later this month, the government also aims to produce most of the PPE items manufactured in the UK by March next year, eliminating potential overseas bottlenecks. I will.

The lack of PPE spread complaints that staff were working in dangerous situations during the first phase of the pandemic. Some sad families even blamed the lack of protective equipment against the death of their beloved family.

As Covid-19 levels rise again across the UK, healthcare services are applying lessons learned in the last six months of tough months in the hope of avoiding another crisis.

The sad fact is that, according to the latest data, one-third of the beds in the intensive care unit are still occupied by patients with a bald background, which is the same as the April statistics.

While many countries responded with anxiety or frustration to this week’s announcement of Prime Minister Boris Johnson of further national restrictions, NHS frontline people listened to people, which at the same time the service dealt with a surge in virus cases. I want to mitigate Winter pressure In recent years, it has become difficult to manage.

Warning signs are already flashing, and hospitalizations, especially in the UK, increased in September. The number recognized across Britain on Tuesday was 1319, with 181 requiring ventilation beds. The next day, the number allowed by Covid-19 increased to 1469 and the number requiring ventilation was 211.

Leila McKay, director of the NHS Confederation, which represents organizations across the healthcare sector, said the service learned from a major logistics challenge in March to ensure that NHS organizations have the kits they need. I did.

“It was rapidly difficult to convert commonly used PPE systems to meet highly expanded needs. [to cope with] COVID 19. That system now exists and is in a much better place to provide the necessary PPE and ensure the safety of staff members.

Efforts to address the serious bed shortage that contributed to the cancellation of non-emergency swaths during the first wave of the virus are also underway, creating a vast backlog of patients in need of care.

David Oliver, a geriatrics and internal medicine consultant at a hospital in southern England, said: “At the altar of emergency treatment, selective planned treatment was sacrificed and did not overwhelm the NHS. Now we are catching up.”

However, there is growing conviction across the NHS that Covid’s care does not need to eliminate many other services as it did during previous peaks.

One reason is that the NHS Had been deficient for a long time Compared to other health systems.

Marcel Levy, Chief Executive of University College London Hospitals, said his hospital has already been deployed alongside other large institutions in the capital, including Royal London, Guys and St. Thomas, and Royalty Free. plans Double the number of intensive care beds after the proposal is approved by the NHS regional and national teams.

But Professor Levi was surprised that the Treasury hasn’t yet signaled additional capital spending and the pace of decision-makers hasn’t increased. ” “Most hospitals consider it very important that we are just beginning these preparations, but if the money is not settled, it is a very dangerous situation.”

During the pandemic, Professor Levi emphasized that his own hospital “still has many cancer treatments, many cancer surgeries, and non-Covid emergencies,” and at the next peak, “patients.” Planned surgery and diagnosis are underway because we cannot afford to further increase the backlog of all these procedures for. “

He also suggested that doctors learned a huge amount of the best ways to treat patients with Covid-19, significantly reducing the amount of time they occupy the intensive care bed. In most European countries, the average length of stay has decreased from the first 21 days of the pandemic to “more than 10 days.” “This means that the number of ICU beds available is double,” said Professor Levi.

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The improvement in treatment was not to find a single “golden bullet” in the form of a miracle drug, but added “a combination of the 15 or 20 little things we learned that made a difference.” ..

However, one of the problems that occurred during the pandemic and was not addressed was the disproportionate effect of the virus on people in black and ethnic minority communities. According to Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the British Medical Association’s council, there are no government reports on how to mitigate risk.

Dr. Nagpol said: “Sad facts are up-to-date data, showing that one-third of intensive care beds are still occupied by patients with a bald background, which was when the government first published the study. It’s the same as the statistics in. It’s September now, but nothing has changed. ”