NHS England chief warns of ‘disturbing’ coronavirus signs as hospital admissions surge
The IndependentSign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The chief executive of NHS England has warned of the strain facing the health service after a “disturbing” increase in coronavirus infection rates and hospital admissions. And we know that hospital admissions lag community infection by several weeks.” He said as winter neared the NHS was going to have to be “very agile in our response, not only to coronavirus, but to winter pressures and to sustaining the wider range of services that the NHS offers.” But Sir Simon, who has been chief executive of NHS England since 2013, said he believed some things had shifted in favour for the health service with new treatments and better knowledge of the disease than in April when predictions had suggested tens of thousands of patients would need ventilators to breathe. In a reference to the growing demands on the NHS and a possible bid for new funding for the NHS Sir Simon said: “We have got new needs that we are going to have to address and will have to be factored into the capacity of the NHS, whether it's long Covid, whether it's dealing with the backlog of patients waiting for routine operations, whether it's for some of the psychological and mental health consequences of the pandemic. Those new care needs will need addressing.” Ms Pritchard said NHS England was working with No 10 on a new health bill for the NHS which would be presented to parliament next year.