‘Covid is affecting all of acute care – so the system sludges up’

A hospital doctor in Yorkshire explains how Omicron is testing northern hospitals’ resources, with staff juggling beds to control infection and dealing with a huge influx of patients

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“Hospitals in the north of England are incredibly busy now, in particular because of Omicron. At the hospital where I work we’ve gone from 26 Covid inpatients on Boxing Day to 104 now.

Unlike previous waves of Covid, only four people are being cared for in ICU, whereas in previous waves we were maxed out at 20 people in ICU. That’s good from the patients’ point of view. But it does stress the rest of the system, including the bit of the system I work in – acute medicine.

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