Hospital bosses are seeking capacity from the care and nursing home sector as hospital beds fill up amid a coronavirus surge, the chief executive of NHS Providers said.
Chris Hopson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “This is escalating really quickly. We’ve seen 5,000 new patients in hospital beds with Covid-19 over the past week – that’s 10 full hospitals’ worth of Covid patients in hospitals in just seven days, so it’s a really big challenge.
“We are now reaching the point in some places where hospital beds are full, community beds are full and community at home services are also full.
“What trust leaders are trying to do is they know there is some spare capacity in the care and nursing home sector and they’re in the middle of conversation with care and nursing home colleagues to see if they can access that capacity.
“It’s literally leaving no stone unturned to maximise every single piece of capacity we’ve got in those areas under real pressure.”
He said the Exeter and Manchester Nightingale hospitals are currently being used but said the Nightingales are the “last resort insurance policy” as they are not “purpose built for health and care” and require the diversion of staff.
