NHS hospitals draft in SECRETARIES to help on wards and bosses plan to use Army helicopters to airlift Covid patients to mainland from Isle of Wight as officials warn crisis won t peak until FEBRUARY - but Matt Hancock says there is NO oxygen shortage
Hospitals in the capital are in need of immediate additional staff , NHS boss said
Secretaries, students and care workers could be drafted in to help on wards
They will be used to do paperwork, carry equipment and feed patients
High sickness and self-isolation rates and busy hospitals are pressuring NHS
Windsor and Maidenhead - 626.1
In today s national coronavirus news: Crime and Policing Minister Kit Malthouse has said the UK is at a perilous stage in the battle against coronavirus. Asked about the possibility of increased Covid restrictions, Mr Malthouse told Sky News: We are at a very, very perilous stage in the progress of this virus through our country. If we are going to get through this in good shape, and if we make sure that this is the last, big lockdown of the country, it s very important that we all stick to the rules, and we see very high compliance.
Last modified on Mon 28 Dec 2020 23.37 EST
Richard Breeze reels off a list of the ways his hospital will adapt in coming weeks to cope with the growing number of coronavirus patients flooding through their doors. Staff will be redeployed, wards will be emptied to make more space and critical care capacity – which has already gone from 10 beds to 28 – will move up to treating 30-odd extremely unwell people.
Speaking over the phone while on a ward round, with a whirl of hospital activity going on behind him, Breeze – who is the clinical director of critical care at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS trust – says they are reaching the levels of the first wave but this time around they have fewer staff.