Covid: Pressure on health services 'not sustainable' as UK faces wave of Omicron infections

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers has said pressure on UK health services is “not sustainable” as the country faces a wave of Omicron Covid-19 infections.

Hopson said a combination of record 999 calls, the second-highest ever number of emergency department admissions, elective procedure backlogs, the extension of the booster campaign, and social care pressure mean the NHS is “busier than its ever been before.”

He said: “That’s obviously a worry because it’s before the traditional winter peak in January and it’s before any cases really coming into hospitals and we are now starting to do in terms of Omicron cases, so we’re already at beyond full stretch, in our view, before either of those things occur so it’s a worrying time, but as you’d expect everybody on the NHS frontline is doing absolutely the best they can to provide the best possible care.”

He added yesterday’s request from the Prime Minister for “extraordinary effort” comes as staff are “very, very tired”.

Mr Hopson told Sky News: “I think staff are worried, to be frank, that this level of pressure is going to become normalised and it’s not sustainable.”

It comes as Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he is not able to confirm any deaths in England from the Omicron variant of Covid-19 to date.

He stressed that a delay between infection, admission to hospital and death should be expected.

Asked how many people are in hospital with the new variant, Mr Javid said: “In England, there’s about 10 people that are confirmed, in England, with Omicron.”

He added: “At this point in time I can’t confirm a death.”

But he said: “There is always a lag between infection and then hospitalisation and then, sadly, death.”