Coronavirus: Restarting NHS services will be a major challenge, warn experts

Restarting NHS services will be an even greater challenge than coping with the first coronavirus infections, health think tanks and hospital chiefs have warned.

Since March, the NHS has freed up more than 33,000 beds to prepare for an influx of COVID-19 patients needing intensive care, but since the peak of infection health chiefs have worried that delays to care were harming patients.

Around 46,000 so-called excess deaths have been recorded during the pandemic, as compared against a five-year average. Around a quarter of these are believed to be unrelated to COVID-19.

In a joint statement, the Health Foundation, Nuffield Trust and King’s Fund think tanks have said it could take months before the NHS and social care are able to fully restart. All three bodies will be giving evidence to the Commons health committee on Thursday, where they will warn about the impact on the health service’s “exhausted staff” and demand action to help care homes – which are now at the frontline in the fight against coronavirus.

The experts will stress the need for the NHS to begin planning for a second peak of infections, especially if it comes in winter – when the service is usually overwhelmed by seasonal flu.

They will warn about concerns over how the NHS manages the risk of infection, with the need for more protective equipment, social distancing and increased testing. This will “severely limit capacity for many months”, they said.

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Soruce: The Independent, 14 May 2020