Coronavirus: Nursing chief outlines problems NHS faces in event of large coronavirus outbreak

The government’s plans to increase the number of acute critical care beds in response to the coronavirus outbreak will be a “problem”, a nursing chief has said.

Nicki Credland, the chair of the British Association of Critical Care Nurses, has told Sky’s Kay Burley@Breakfast programme that the NHS is “already working at full capacity” and that a rise in COVID-19 cases in the UK would “put a huge strain on the system”.

The Health Secretary, Matt Hancock MP, had previously revealed plans on Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme earlier this month for the government to increase the number of high acute critical care beds to 5,000.

But Ms Credland indicated that the current number of intensive care nurses meant this would be a challenge for the health service.

“Every intensive care bed that we open will require four fully qualified intensive care nurses to staff it.

“[Mr Hancock] has commented that there will be 5,000 new intensive care beds. That will require 20,000 fully qualified intensive care nurses, which we will simply not be able to mobilise as quickly,” she said.

Ms Credland also warned of a potential drop in patient safety standards due to the changes COVID-19 would bring to the NHS.

“Due to the increased scale, and complexity, and speed at which we need to deliver this service, that is without doubt going to compromise the quality and safety of care that we can provide to patients.

“From a nursing point of view, we’ve got 40,000 nursing vacancies nationwide. So as you can imagine that will put a huge strain on the system as a whole, certainly from an intensive care perspective.”

In other coronavirus developments:

• Health minister Nadine Dorries has tested positive for COVID-19
• The UK’s interest rate has been cut to help economy during outbreak
• A sixth person has died after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK; confirmed cases rise to 382
• NHS in England to “ramp up” testing facilities so 10,000 tests can be done each day
• Manchester City’s game against Arsenal tonight is postponed and players are self-isolating
• US festival Coachella pushed back until October
• A man is pulled from the rubble of a quarantine hotel in China nearly three days after it collapsed

Ms Credland said the coronavirus crisis added to “a huge problem in terms of recruitment and retention of critical care nurses”.

Mr Hancock will chair a COBRA meeting on Wednesday to discuss the ongoing issue of COVID-19.

The Health Secretary told fellow MPs in the Commons on Tuesday that members of the public should begin to access GP services digitally “with immediate effect” because of the virus outbreak.

:: Listen to the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

“Wherever clinically and practically possible,” Mr Hancock told the House, “people can access and should access primary care through phones and digital means.

“This is especially important in the current coronavirus outbreak.

“Already there is a rollout that’s started, but we will make this across the country with immediate effect.”

Mr Hancock also revealed that in a new effort to tackle COVID-19, the government had reserved a hotel by Heathrow airport for foreign nationals arriving in the UK that need to self-isolate.

Former staff from the now-defunct Department for Exiting the European Union, who had been working on no-deal Brexit contingency plans, are now supporting the government in its response to the coronavirus.

(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: Nursing chief outlines problems NHS faces in event of large coronavirus outbreak