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A makeshift hospital in south London
Photo: Kirsty O Connor / imago images / ZUMA Press
Because of the pollution caused by the Omikron wave, almost every sixth hospital organization in England has declared an emergency. Those responsible are of the opinion that necessary treatments can no longer be guaranteed. The situation affects 24 of the 137 NHS trusts in England, which usually include several clinics, as British Transport Minister Grant Shapps announced on Thursday.
Operations are postponed
Many health care workers are infected themselves and are absent, while the backlog of treatments continues to grow because operations are increasingly being postponed. According to the Guardian, the NHS Confederation, which brings together health service organizations, plans to deploy tens of thousands of medical students in clinics and other medical fields. According to official figures, almost six million people are waiting for routine operations and treatment in England alone - many of them with pain.
In a new committee report, MPs urge the UK government to come up with a long-term plan to make the health system robust and resilient.
"The current wave of omicrons is compounding the problem, but we had a serious staffing crisis before that, with burned-out staff, 93,000 vacancies in the health service and no plan in sight to change that," said committee chairman Jeremy Hunt.
There is a risk that many medical professionals will leave the sector if “no light is visible at the end of the tunnel”, according to the BBC in the report.
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The government is pointing to additional funds that have already been announced to address the backlog.
However, this is not enough for many in the industry.
Great Britain recently recorded a large number of coronavirus infections.
There were more than 194,000 new infections on Wednesday
reported.
As the British statistics agency ONS announced, it is estimated that around 3.7 million people were infected with the corona virus in the last week of the old year - more than ever before.
In the capital, London, one in ten was positive this week.
mar / dpa