NHS patients resort to sleeping in cars as crisis deepens

A combination of Covid, flu, and Strep A has seen more than a dozen trusts and ambulance services declare critical incidents in recent days.

NHS patients are sleeping in their cars outside hospitals, as the chaos engulfing the health service is set to last until Easter.

Some 13% of hospital beds in England are filled with people with Covid or flu, NHS England figures show, with the treatment backlog also at a record high of 7.2 million.

But Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents health service managers, said no reprieve is expected until April.

"It seems likely that the next three months will be defined by further critical incidents needing to be declared and the quality of care being compromised," he told the Guardian.

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Source: The Telegraph, 3 January 2023