NHS scrambling to ramp up intensive care capacity as Covid-19 deaths soar

The NHS is working "incredibly hard" to increase its critical care capacity as deaths continue to soar amid the coronavirus pandemic, the national medical director of NHS England has said.

Speaking at the daily Government Covid-19 press briefing on Saturday, Professor Stephen Powis said health officials were focusing first on expanding bed capacity in London.

It comes as the virus continues to spread quicker in the capital than in other parts of the country.

"We are not at capacity yet within London, but beds are being opened all the time to increase that extra surge capacity," Mr Powis said.

"In the first instance we are using theatres and recovery areas; those are areas in hospitals where anaesthetic machines, ventilators, are already used for surgery and can be readily adapted to take critically ill patients."

Mr Powis, who appeared at the briefing alongside Business Secretary Alok Sharma, said the moves had "almost doubled" pre-existing capacity.

He added that while the beds were not all currently being used the number of patients was "clearly" increasing day-by-day.

His comments came after senior health figures warned earlier this week that London was facing a "tsunami" of Covid-19 cases.

Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday that extra capacity in the capital - including 4,000 beds at the new emergency field hospital inside the Excel centre in London’s Docklands – will be used up "very, very quickly" as coronavirus infections continue to surge.

More than 17,000 people nationwide are now confirmed to have contracted coronavirus.

The overall death toll in the UK from the outbreak has continued to rise and currently stands at 1,019, up from 759 on Friday.

In other key developments:

• Mr Sharma said testers of personal protective equipment (PPE) have been told to put the products at the “front of the queue” to ensure medics have more supplies

• The Business Secretary also announced changes to insolvency rules to allow firms "greater flexibility as they face the current crisis"

• Mr Sharma said "red tape" will be reduced to allow new producers of hand sanitiser to bring products to market "in a matter of days"

• Covid-19 testing will be increased for NHS staff in the coming days, Mr Powis said

When asked about the spread of the virus, Mr Powis echoed the words of Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government’s chief scientific adviser, saying: "If we can keep deaths below 20,000 we will have done very well in this epidemic."

“If we do reduce the deaths below what we initially thought, I want to be absolutely clear, that won’t be because we are somehow lucky," he added.

"It won’t be because somehow the virus is acting in this country differently from any other country, it will be because every citizen in this country, the British public, have complied with the instructions the Government has given based on the best scientific evidence to reduce the transmission of the disease.

"We can beat this virus, we can reduce the number of deaths, but only if we reduce the spread and the transmission."

"Now is not the time to be complacent."

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