Omicron has pushed the NHS almost to ‘breaking point’, with 24 trusts in a state of emergency.
Millions of people now live in an area where hospitals are struggling to keep up with demand.
With the winter wave fuelling hospitalisations and staff absences, there are reports of day-long waits for an ambulance in some parts of the country.
The government has resisted calls from some health professionals to introduce measures in a bid to slow the huge wave of Covid-19 infections.
Boris Johnson has insisted the health service can avoid being overwhelmed without restrictions as his government bucks the trend seen across Europe of tightening rules.
But the NHS Confederation has warned staff already feel like the organisation is in crisis mode.
Chief executive Matthew Taylor told The Guardian: ‘The prime minister’s attempts to reassure the public that the NHS is not being overwhelmed will not chime with the experience of staff working in some parts of the NHS.’
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed 24 out of 137 trusts are in a critical position but said it is ‘not entirely unusual for hospitals to go critical over the winter with things like the flu pandemic’.
He added: ‘But there are very real pressures which I absolutely recognise.’
Hospitalisations are higher now than at any point since February 19 last but remain well below the peak of 12 months ago.
A total of 17,276 people were in hospital in the UK with Covid-19 as of January 4, up 58% week-on-week.
An official from an ambulance workers’ trade union told the Mirror the service is facing a ‘perfect storm’ and 24 hours waits are a reality for some patients.
Bryn Webster, from Unison’s National Ambulance Committee, said: ‘Our ambulance crews, the control rooms and 111 are all exhausted and on their knees. They’ve had two years of this and it has taken a mental and physical toll.’
He added: ‘It’s stressing a lot of ambulance staff that we can’t get to the patients. There’s been horrific stories of 24-hour waits.
‘The staff are sitting in the back of ambulances with patients for hours.’
In the Commons, Boris Johnson said hospital admissions were ‘doubling around every nine days’, including among the over-60s, and ‘we’re experiencing the fastest growth in Covid cases we’ve ever known’.
Downing Street has admitted more than 20 NHS trusts had declared a critical incident as of Wednesday, meaning hospital bosses around the country fear priority services cannot be safely delivered.
But the PM’s aide insisted this was ‘not a good indicator’ of the pressures the health service was under.
The NHS Confederation said the government ‘needs to do all it can to mobilise more staff and other resources for the NHS to get through this extremely challenging period’ and warned plans to provide critical workers with lateral flows would not be enough.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents health trusts, said the rising numbers of hospitalisations, staffing, and non-Covid issues which existed before the pandemic meant it is ‘stretched like never before’.
Mr Johnson has extended Plan B measures like vaccine passports in nightclubs and masks in public places will continue until January 26 but a fresh Commons vote – a potentially treacherous political moment for the PM – would be needed to go beyond that.
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