The world is not prepared for another pandemic because governments and healthcare bodies haven’t learnt any lessons, Bupa’s boss warned.
The UK faced one of the highest death tolls during the pandemic and received an unprecedented number of Covid-19 hospital admissions.
Iñaki Ereño, CEO of the health insurance provider, told the BBC hospitals must treat infected and non-infected patients separately during the next pandemic.
He warned: ‘We might face [another pandemic] soon.
‘The main question is: have we all [around the world] learned a lot, so next time we are ready? My belief is that is not the case.
‘The planning was not good, we cannot empty the hospitals and the clinics just for [a disease like] Covid, and allow people who were going through very severe episodes to stay at home.’
Mr Ereño questioned whether countries had enough PPE stock, a problem which plagued the UK at the beginning of the pandemic.
He said ‘we cannot stop the normal delivery of healthcare to people that need us’, for example to pregnant women or cancer patients.
The government was accused of delaying lockdowns each time a new wave of Covid hit.
Segregation in hospitals would be hard to implement according to Paul Elkington, professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Southampton.
He said hospital staff striking, and the Ukraine war creating supply chain issues would make the situation harder for the NHS.
‘With all these day-to-day issues it’s very hard for NHS managers to focus on the next pandemic,’ he told the BBC.
Private healthcare providers stepped up during the pandemic to help with patient waiting lists but this is not sustainable in the long-term, Mr Elkington confirmed.
Metro has contacted the Department of Health and Social Care for comment.
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