Hospitals in Britain are struggling to cope with a surge in winter illnesses, leading to overcrowding and long wait times. The term 'quad-demic' is used to describe the simultaneous spread of flu, Covid-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and norovirus.
Hospital wards are full to bursting with patients suffering a combination of respiratory and flu symptoms in what is known as the ‘quad-demic’, one of the country’s leading doctors said yesterday. Dr Ian Higginson has warned half of Britain’s A&E units are at full capacity because of the sharp increase in winter illnesses. The term ‘quad-demic’ is used to describe flu, Covid-19, respiratory syncytial virus – all of which cause difficulty breathing – and norovirus.
Dr Higginson, from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), described the situation within hospitals as ‘pretty grim’. He explained that patients are being forced to wait in corridors owing to bed shortages, with ambulances queuing up outside, and told of an increased risk to the health of staff. Dr Higginson told Sky News: ‘Normally, just before Christmas we’d expect a bit of a lull. So I’m afraid things are looking pretty difficult for our patients and for our staff. ‘We simply don’t have enough beds in our hospitals for patients who are admitted as emergencies. We don’t have enough staff for those beds and we don’t have any headroom at all. So if something like the flu hits, as it has done, it makes a bad situation even worse. We have got patients all the way through our corridors because we can’t admit them to hospital when they need to be.’ Dr Ian Higginson has warned half of Britain’s A&E units are at full capacity because of the sharp increase in winter illnesses He explained that patients are being forced to wait in corridors owing to bed shortages, with ambulances queuing up outside, and told of an increased risk to the health of staff He said Britain is about 10,000 hospital beds short to deal with predictable medical emergencies, and spikes such as the current quad-demic only make the situation worse. Giving context, he explained this is the same as being two wards short in every hospita
Health Crisis Hospitals Quad-Demic Winter Illnesses Overcrowding
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