Boris Johnson tells private hospitals to free up beds for the NHS and orders Rolls Royce and JCB to help produce ventilators in ‘national effort’ to tackle coronavirus pandemic
- Prime Minister will go to private hospital groups asking them to free up beds
- His request will mirror that of wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill in 1938
- This time threat is not a foreign enemy but a hidden killer as PM prepares NHS
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
Boris Johnson will issue a Churchillian plea to business this week – asking for their help in defeating coronavirus.
The Prime Minister will go to private hospital groups asking them to free up beds for NHS use, and urge manufacturers of medical equipment to ramp up production of ventilators and other life-saving machinery.
His request will mirror that of wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill, who in 1938 went to captains of industry seeking their assistance in re-arming Britain to prepare the country for the looming threat of war.
This time the threat is not a foreign enemy but a hidden killer. And while Churchill had a year to rearm the nation – a Herculean task in itself – Mr Johnson has just weeks to prepare the NHS.
An empty NHS hospital bed on a ward. The Prime Minister will go to private hospital groups asking them to free up beds for NHS use, and urge manufacturers of medical equipment to ramp up production of ventilators and other life-saving machinery
Johnson’s request will mirror that of wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill. This time the threat is not a foreign enemy but a hidden killer
Scientists leading the effort, including Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty, fear that within a month the epidemic in Britain will be similar in scale to that in Italy now.
There, many hospitals are packed full of coronavirus patients with intensive care units overflowing. Doctors are being forced to ‘triage’ patients – only admitting patients to intensive care if they think they have a good chance of survival. Yet Italy has almost twice the number of such beds per person as the UK (12.5 per thousand compared to 6.6 per thousand).
England has only about 4,000 adult intensive care beds and many of these are already full, either with normal cases or coronavirus patients. The NHS in England is looking to expand that capacity ‘several fold’, strategic incident director Keith Willett said last week. But even a big increase is unlikely to be enough as coronavirus sweeps through the population.
Consequently, Mr Johnson will ask private hospitals for help in two ways. Firstly, he will want them to take on pre-planned operations that NHS hospitals can no longer do as they clear surgical wards for virus patients and those with other medical problems. Secondly, he will urge them to set up make-shift critical care wards to cope during the epidemic’s peak.
Dr Ganesh Suntharalingam, president of the Intensive Care Society, said: ‘We are facing a major challenge with coronavirus – as expected. We absolutely welcome any innovation and assistance from the private sector, both in terms of capacity – using their existing facilities – but also the ability to deliver extra hardware and support to the NHS.
‘Some large private hospitals have fully functioning intensive care units. It would be appropriate and welcome for them to provide support to the NHS. It may be less so in smaller hospitals, that are primarily set up for short surgery and do not have full intensive care units.’ Last night the Independent Healthcare Providers’ Network, which represents firms working with the NHS such as Spire, HCA and BMI Hospitals, said ‘wide ranging discussions’ had already begun with health service officials.
Policy director David Furness said: ‘We recognise the need for all parts of the health system to play their part and the sector is currently working closely with NHS England to agree how this support can be effectively and sustainably deployed.’
The NHS also needs thousands more ventilators, which help coronavirus patients breathe when suffering severe pneumonia. Each costs around £15,000. European countries are scrambling to secure supplies with Germany ordering 10,000 more – to increase the 25,000 already in use in German hospitals – and Italy 5,000 extra.
In Britain doctors plan to sequester ventilators from mothballed operating theatres but planners know that, short of a miracle, the epidemic surge will mean far more are needed. Meanwhile, The Mail on Sunday understands stricter rules on visiting loved-ones in hospitals and care homes will soon be announced to ‘cocoon’ the country’s most vulnerable people.
The Government has been criticised for not issuing restrictions, after an outbreak at one care home in the US left 25 dead.
Last Thursday former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, now chairman of the Commons’ health committee, said he was ‘personally surprised that we’re still allowing external visits to care homes’.