A top surgeon has raised fears cancer surgeries may be axed in the coming days unless the national lockdown swiftly curbs the spread of coronavirus.
Professor Neil Mortensen, the president of the Royal College of Surgeons, warned today the situation in hospitals is getting ‘much worse’, and escalating faster than the ‘slow-motion car crash’ he previously said they were facing.
He added that those waiting for other non-Covid treatments – such as knee replacements – may also be forced to wait because of escalating Covid admissions.
Dr Claudia Paoloni, the chairman of the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association, echoed his warning saying the risk of hospitals becoming overwhelmed in the next few weeks is ‘very, very high’.
It comes after Britain’s chief medical officers warned there was a ‘material risk’ of the NHS being swamped by more patients than there are beds in the next 21 days.
They have raised the alert level to five – its highest – for the first time since the pandemic began, meaning ‘transmission is rising exponentially’ and healthcare services may be overwhelmed.
Hospitals are already 40 per cent busier than the first wave in April, Boris Johnson said, as doctors likened working for the NHS to being in a warzone.
The Prime Minister sent England into its third lockdown yesterday, with shutdowns also in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
As many as 80,000 positive cases were recorded on December 29 alone, thought to have been key in the Prime Minister’s decision to once again draw the curtains on society.
A top surgeon has warned those waiting for operations to treat cancer could have their surgery axed due to spiralling admissions. Above are ambulance workers outside the Royal London Hospital on January 3
Professor Mortensen told Times Radio: ‘My colleagues in London doing ward rounds, for example, report that there are problems with staff numbers on the wards, staff numbers in theatres.
‘And then of course if you need to go to the intensive care unit, if the intensive care unit is full of Covid patients there’s no room for you.
‘So it’s a really serious situation and, obviously, the less-priority operations have already stopped in many places – hips, knees, ENT (ear nose and throat) procedures.
‘We’re now concerned about operations like cancer surgeries being cancelled or postponed because there just isn’t the capacity to be able to manage them.’
He added: ‘I think if you have a delayed operation for cancer that may have an effect.
‘If you come in from a road traffic accident and you’re seriously ill, and you need to go to an intensive care unit afterwards and there is no intensive care unit, that’s going to have serious consequences.
‘And that’s why everybody is so concerned right now that we are properly locked down, that we’re as far as we possibly can reducing the transmission of the virus, and making it possible for what facilities we do have to carry on working effectively to keep people alive.’
Warning that those waiting for treatments for other illnesses also faced seeing their procedures cut, Professor Mortensen added: ‘There needs to be space in our hospitals for us to deal with all the other things – the heart attacks or strokes, the cancer surgeries and emergency surgery.
‘We have to be able to keep capacity to do those. And if we don’t reduce the transmission of the virus, there won’t be that capacity.’
When asked whether the NHS will be able to return to normal business by late spring, he added: ‘I’m afraid I’m one of the pessimists I think this is going to drag on a bit.
‘I think that we’re really not going to be any bit in any better shape (until) summer I’m afraid.
Professor Neil Mortensen, president of the royal college of surgeons
‘I think it’s going to take a long time. This is a very, very, very serious situation.
‘There’ll be an enormous backlog of elective surgeries, and we may have backlogs of some more urgent surgeries to get through as well so it’s going to be a long tough, hard winter and spring.’
Dr Paoloni warned on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We’re now in a situation where the risk of overwhelming the NHS at this point, over the next few weeks, is very, very high.
‘We are very much hoping that this (lockdown) will avert an overwhelming.’
Asked what hospitals being overwhelmed could look like, she said: ‘What you see in London, on the news or in the papers, with ambulances lined up, unable to load their patients into Accident and Emergencies, could happen in every hospital throughout this country, which means that anyone with any condition may not be able to access the care that they need.’
Boris Johnson pictured visiting the Chase Farm Hospital in London yesterday
Britain’s chief medical officers have warned parts of the NHS are already under ‘immense pressure’, as Covid-19 cases continue to spiral.
In a letter written by the UK’s four CMOs and NHS England’s national medical director Professor Stephen Powis – ahead of Mr Johnson’s address – said: ‘Following advice from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and in the light of the most recent data, the four UK chief medical officers and NHS England medical director recommend that the UK alert level should move from Level 4 to Level 5.
‘Many parts of the health systems in the four nations are already under immense pressure. There are currently very high rates of community transmission, with substantial numbers of Covid patients in hospitals and in intensive care.
‘Cases are rising almost everywhere, in much of the country driven by the new more transmissible variant. We are not confident that the NHS can handle a further sustained rise in cases and without further action there is a material risk of the NHS in several areas being overwhelmed over the next 21 days.
‘Although the NHS is under immense pressure, significant changes have been made so people can still receive lifesaving treatment.
‘It is absolutely critical that people still come forward for emergency care. If you require non-urgent medical attention, please contact your GP or call NHS 111.’