The NHS plans to admit Covid patients to care homes without a negative test for the virus, it was announced today – despite the virus tearing through homes and infiltrating thousands of deaths during the first wave.
Documents say patients will not be swallowed but must be alone for 14 days and not suffer symptoms of the virus. Care homes have already warned that using their empty beds as an overflow for overcrowded hospitals would be a ‘big mistake’.
Trusts are also considering releasing Covid patients to hotels – under plans known as ‘home and hotel’ – after realizing the potential for emergency care and sending barriers to night use.
Patients already suffering from the virus are being transferred from King’s College London hospital to a nearby Best Western hotel in Croydon, the Guardian says.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock today acknowledged that No10 was looking at ‘all options’ to put pressure on the NHS, which now treats 35,000 Covid patients – compared to 21,000 during the darkest period of the first wave last spring.
‘There are huge pressures on the NHS and we are looking at all the ways we can reduce those pressures,’ he told Sky News.
‘We would never do that if it was clinically the right thing for someone. In some cases, people need sit-down care, they don’t have to be in a hospital bed. ‘
He comes amid fears that hospitals could be overrun by admission from Britons suffering from the virus, with health chiefs warning that the crisis will not come until February. It can take several weeks for patients with a sick disease, meaning no falls are seen in NHS wards for at least a fortnight.
Care homes issued a furious warning last week that using their empty beds as an overflow for overcrowded hospitals would be a ‘big mistake’.
The National Care Forum has warned that their homes are under ‘incredible’ pressure and they cannot deal with NHS patients either. They argued that calls to protect the health service should not overlook the significant potential impact on care homes.
Covid patients are already being transferred to a top Western branded hotel in the Croydon area. There is no suggestion that the Western Hotel is the best in the picture above
He comes amid fears that hospitals could overflow. There were 35,000 Covid patients in British hospitals on January 10, up 21.5 per cent on the same period the week before
A riot erupted in the first wave after patients were discharged to care homes to free beds without an advanced coronavirus test.
This deadly behavior was feared, leading to thousands of deaths.
Ashgate Hospice, in Derbyshire, has already accepted a Covid patient from nearby Chesterfield Royal Infirmary.
The hospital said the patient is being separated from the rest of the ward. They said they have not contracted corona-virus since the outbreak began.
‘We are standing shoulder to shoulder with the NHS and we are trying to free up as many beds as we can,’ said a comment for the hospital. ‘Most of the patients we brought from the Royal Chesterfield are non-Covid palliative patients.’
The Department of Health wrote to care homes in October urging them to try to find a place to accept non-resident patients being discharged from hospital.
They wanted to establish 500 of these designated areas, separated from the main home and the various workers, in case hospitals were loaded in the second wave of the pandemic.
Patients are also being discharged early and taken to hotels, according to reports, with organizations including the St. John’s Ambulance and the British Red Cross supporting the efforts.
They will also take care of the patients when they arrive at the hotels, along with military medical staff and some NHS staff, it is said.
Families will also be expected to play an important role in monitoring and caring for their loved ones once they are transferred to hotels.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock is hurt to look at all options
The London Hotel Group, which owns Best Western Chain, is concerned in talks with 20 NHS Trusts about providing extra capacity. He says he can provide 5,000 beds.
The patients who have already been transferred to his hotel in the Croydon area are homeless, the Guardian says.
The Health Secretary said this morning that proposals for the use of hotels were not ‘concrete’ but that it was ‘something to look at as we look at all incidental cases’.
When asked if the NHS could be upset, he told BBC Breakfast: ‘We’re going to do everything we can to support, give the NHS the resources it needs. .
That includes, for example, the opening of Nightingale hospitals and London Nightingale hospital now receiving patients for the first time since April. ‘
He said sending some patients to hotels as an ‘alternative backup plan’ was only done if that’s appropriate for the patient but ‘not something we’re actively promoting. involved ‘. He said it would be for ‘step down’ patients only.
Ashgate Hospital, in Derbyshire, has already accepted a Covid-19 patient. The picture is above
It comes as statistics show that the second wave of the British pandemic may have peaked when it was locked in, with the disease rate dipping for most areas from 5 January.
The news comes after reports that the NHS is on the ‘edge of a knife’ with hospitals close by.
Medical students and receptionists will now be brought in to help deal with a dramatic increase in Covid-19 patients, experts say.
New figures show that one in 20 patients is waiting more than 12 hours for beds – but the worst of the crisis will not come until next month. Bosses says basic workers are against an ‘unstable workload’.
The director of NHS England in London has written to all hospitals ordering a ‘massive resuscitation effort’ of students, receptionists and social care staff to care for Covid’s patients.
Volunteers and social care staff will be transferred to hospitals to take on roles such as detection equipment and food for patients.
New posts have been created to help fill the emergency shortage of staff. Secretaries and students work as ‘medical ward writers’ to write down clinical decisions, patient histories and treatment times.
Students also help with activities such as ‘pronouncing’ patients – turning them on their faces.
Meanwhile the Royal College of Emergency Medicine says that in the week to January 3, more than 2,500 patients were waiting more than 12 hours for admission to a 32-bed bed. SNS.
Dr Katherine Henderson, president of RCEM, said: ‘It is a difficult situation to be in. Our departments are packed, with many places with no choice but to manage care in corridors. ‘
Jeremy Hunt, chairman of the Commons Health Committee and former health secretary, urged people to stick to restrictions to cut infection rates. He told the BBC: ‘I think the NHS will eventually get intensive care, emergency care, beds for everyone who needs it. But it’s on the edge of a full knife. ‘
Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said he expects to spike pressure in February. He warned a health and social care committee of MPs yesterday: ‘It is very clear that the infection rate will not go down as fast as it did in the first phase. ‘
The rapid rise in affairs was now spreading to the east of England into the Mediterranean, Northwest and Southwest, he said.
‘That is of particular concern because trusts in the midlands and north have still received large numbers of patients in hospital since the second increase. ‘