Beds almost touching as under pressure hospital squeezes in more patients

Patients at an under-pressure hospital have been squeezed into rooms – with their beds almost touching – as part of ‘extreme measures’.

Over 20 NHS trusts have declared ‘critical incidents’ after tens of thousands of staff had to stay at home because of Covid-19 and a Omicron-fuelled surge in hospitalisations.

Workers at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital have now taken the drastic step of removing curtains between beds so that more people can be squeezed into wards.

Patients have also been required to wear masks at all times and windows in the bays are being kept open for ventilation.

In an email sent to staff, cited by BBC News, chief nurse Professor Nancy Fontaine stressed that the ‘extreme measures’, which are ‘far from ideal’, had been taken as a short-term response to an ‘unprecedented emergency’.

It described a dire situation with an ‘incredibly high’ number of patients attending A&E and rising numbers of Covid-19 cases.

The measures raise serious concerns about infection control at the hospital and one patient said she was worried about catching Covid-19 with others being so close.

The 32-year-old woman added: ‘You’ve effectively got two people where one should be. The only thing between me and the next patient is a small table.

‘You have no privacy and when the doctor speaks to you everyone can hear everything. It makes me very anxious.

‘I feel really sorry for the staff. People are having a go at them but it is not their fault.’

The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital was one of the first to move to the highest level of alert in December due to increased pressure on its services amid the surge of Covid-19 cases.

It means demand has escalated to a level in which comprehensive care cannot be delivered.

Just last week, Tim Leary, chief of surgery and emergency care, was forced to make an appeal to the public to use NHS services in Norfolk and Norwich ‘wisely’.

He said: ‘Our hospital is full with high emergency demand and rising number of Covid-19 hospitalisations.

‘Staff are working around the clock to provide the best possible care to patients in a time of very high demand.’

Metro.co.uk has contacted the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for a comment.

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